


Keep On Dreaming, Some Come True

by Queerbutstillhere



Series: Damian Wayne and Jonathan Kent [14]
Category: DCU (Comics), Super Sons (Comics)
Genre: Adult Damian Wayne, Adult Jonathan Samuel Kent, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Escorts, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Sugar Daddy, College student Jon Kent, Damian Wayne has bde energy, Damijon - Freeform, Demisexual Damian Wayne, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Crack, Gay Jon Kent, M/M, No warnings apply, Pretty Woman the movie btw, Slow Burn, alternate universe - fake dating, listen this is wholesome I swear just ignore those two tags, more or less a prompt fic, mostly Kid-Crashed/Chimie_Chat's fault, no capes AU, oh yeah there's Pretty Woman references, slowburn, this is discord's fault, this is honestly a crack fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 39,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24491620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queerbutstillhere/pseuds/Queerbutstillhere
Summary: When Jonathan Samuel Kent finds himself in a situation of being a very poor college student, he ends up stumbling himself into another situation.He finds himself being an escort to one Billionaire Heir Damian Wayne.Yup, he's getting paid to fake date Damian Wayne.This can't go wrong at all, right?
Relationships: Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Jonathan Samuel Kent/Damian Wayne, Talia al Ghul/Bruce Wayne, Talia al Ghul/Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Series: Damian Wayne and Jonathan Kent [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1525499
Comments: 81
Kudos: 269





	1. The Gift of Impossible Relationships

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chimie_Chat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimie_Chat/gifts).



Jon wasn't that short for cash.

He really wasn't, okay?

Sure he was a poor college student. Sure he got his gas money from his parents, and sure he hadn't eaten out on his own money since July. But listen, college isn't cheap, any form of “higher education” isn't cheap and what do you want from him?

He really needed a job. He should probably get on that.

But listen, he didn't have time. He was two barely a year into his college career, and he wasn't even planning to do the full 12+ years, he was just gonna go, get his radiology tech, and skip the whole four years of pre-med, four in med school, and then four years of residency, you know, what he _wanted_ to do. He just didn't have time or money, which sucked because _debt_. Debt sucks kids. I'd like to tell you to not go into debt but it's really hard to not do that thing so. . . Good luck. But it was fine, it's not like he needed money to buy food and clothes and Christmas presents and birthday presents and books, and pay for college and-

Okay so maybe he should make time for that job.

One pro of commuting to college was that someday's, if he was lucky, he got to go meet his parents for lunch, or pick them up from work early and they'd take him shopping. The Kent's weren't terribly well off. They were a steady middle-class, no mortgage, but the farm did suck a lot of the extra from that. But they were well enough off that Lois would take Jon to get new clothes sometimes or new school supplies. They still bought him tennis shoes yearly, and snow boots for walking to class. So while they weren't like, Lex Luthor rich, they were lucky enough to have a comfortable life.

So today, on this totally unspectacular Tuesday, Jon went to the Daily Planet after his last class for the day to pick his mom up. They needed to grab some groceries and she promised to buy him some new jeans if he came with her, so he was hoping to hit up a thrift store too. He found parking not too terribly far from the planet, popped some change from the cupholder into the meter and then started walking to the _Planet._ He waved at the front desk receptionist as he headed to the elevator, they recognized him by now, so he didn't need to stop and say hi or anything. He just hit the button for the tenth floor and waited, chilling with the business woman and her intern who had already been inside.

Here's what Jon's plan had been. He planned to walk into the office his parents both worked in - recently redesigned from cubicles to open floors and shared desks to encourage productivity! And communication with co-workers! And good vibes! Or something like that - he planned to walk over to his mom's desk, sneak up behind her and surprise her or something, and then he would wait as she finished up a few things and then they would go.

That is very much not what happened.

Instead he turned the corner and smacked shoulders with a man. The man and he quickly stumbled back from each other, hasty apologies streaming from them both.

"I'm so sorry!" Jon exclaimed, having reached out to grab the man's arm to steady him before thinking.

"It's okay, I wasn't looking!" A voice responded, sounding just as embarrassed as he felt.

And then Jon looked up.

"Oh shit," he breathed out, eyes going wide.

Not to be cheesy, but it felt like time slowed around him. This man that he had ran into, was a few inches shorter than him, maybe 5'10, muscularly built, like some kind of athlete, but he didn't look like just any athlete. He was jaw dropping beautiful, honey skin complimented gorgeously by his dark green eyes, dark hair styles in one of those half fade, half blow out styles that just looked so soft and fluffy and Jon always wanted to just dig his hands into. Jon's first thought was that he had to be a model, and if he wasn't, he needed to become one ASAP.

He had one of those lofty "I'm better than you and we all know it" attitudes about him, and it was mildly intimidating (okay and maybe a little hot, so what? Sue Jon-). His strong jaw and sharp cheekbones helped form his gorgeous face, his slightly upturned nose fit his face perfectly, and in general, everything was just so symmetrical and . . . Well, perfect. A nearly trimmed eyebrow arched at the still gaping Jon, his full pink lips turning up in a smirk.

"Oh! Jon!"

Jon's head whipped to the side at the familiar voice, and noticed his mother standing a few steps away.

"Mom!" He exclaimed, glancing back and realizing he was still holding this man, probably a celebrity, by the arm, so he let go and stepped back, grinning sheepishly.

"Hey, you're here early."

"Yeah, prof let out sooner than I thought, sorry I should have called ahead."

Lois, wearing a sharp gray suit and a pink blouse underneath, just shrugged, waving her hand dismissively.

"It's fine, kiddo. You wanna come sit through the interview so you're not hanging around up here and getting harassed by my coworkers?"

"Oh uh." Jon looked at his mom, then back at the guy, then around the office. "Is Dad here?"

"Nope, sorry. He and Jimmy went out to work a story."

"Dang. I guess I'll come with you."

Lois smiled, walking over to stand next to him.

"Jon, this is Damian Wayne. Damian, this is my son, Jonathan Kent."

"Pleasure to meet you," the model guy, Damian, said with a smile, holding out a hand to shake.

Jon's brain took a minute to catch up, and he reached out, shaking his hand and smiling. Wayne? That name was familiar somehow.

"And, we're just waiting on- oh! There he is, Bruce, this is my kid, Jonathan."

Jon looked to the side and nearly choked on air. He decided Billie Eilish was wrong. There is a time to die, and that time is right now. Wayne. _Wayne_ . That's why the name was familiar. _Bruce fucking Wayne_ was standing in front of him, grinning and holding out his hand, doing that dumb fucking politician handshake where he grabs your hand with both of his and says how happy he is to meet you, and "oh I've heard such good things from your parents", and holy shit Bruce Wayne was trying to make small talk with him.

Jon let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah it's good- I mean, nice- I mean, um. . ." He threw Lois a 'save me please' look, and she laughed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wayne."

"Just Bruce is fine," Bruce said with a chuckle, patting Jon's shoulder.

Jon chuckled nervously again, and found his eyes pulled back to Damian, who was watching him. Literally examining him, a contemplative look held on his beautiful features. Suddenly he felt very self conscious in his ripped jeans, old NASA shirt and vintage windbreaker. Yep, one of those bright, multi-color, color block ones. He spent three months looking for one of those bad boys, don't judge him, okay?

He ended up following his mom and these two billionaires into the elevator, and to another floor to one of the conference rooms, holding onto his backpack straps like he was a freshman in highschool again. He couldn't get over the fact that Damian kept watching him like he was some science experiment or something.

When they got up to the conference room, Lois and Bruce sat at one end of the table, but Jon immediately bee-lined to the other end, pulling out his biology textbook and a pair of earbuds so he could at least pretend to be working when in reality he was just going to be panicked texting Kathy and Billy. Because honestly, his life was just like this. Here he was, wearing five dollar jeans and a two dollar shirt he got at a rummage sale and sitting just across the room were two of the Wayne's, who were probably wearing thousands of dollars just in their clothing alone.

Honestly, due to his music, he didn't even notice what his mom was interviewing them about, he just minded his own business, studied his biology, and screamed to his friends. Except suddenly the chair beside him was being pulled out and someone was sitting in it. He barely tilted his head to look, having been sitting with his hand buried in his hair, elbow on the table, and discovered it was Damian sitting next to him. He saw Damian's lips moving and quickly held up a finger, reaching up to pull out an earbud.

"Sorry, I was uh." He waved vaguely at his homework, turning on his phone to pause the music.

"You're quite alright. . . Biology?"

"Yeah."

"What are you studying for?"

"Radiology tech."

Damian frowned slightly, and Jon felt himself chuckling.

"Do you know what that is?"

"I assume it's the person who works the radiology equipment."

"Close enough," Jon said, grinning. He glanced down and closed his book before fixing his posture to face Damian a little better.

The man was wearing dark gray slacks, and a yellow short sleeve shirt, his shirt tucked into his waistband, and brown ankle boot type shoes. He had a dark charcoal tweed trench coat that he had abandoned on a chair, and a fancy looking watch on his wrist, as well as a necklace chain Jon could just barely see before it disappeared under his shirt.

Jon found himself talking before he even realized it. “I didn’t actually want to be a tech, I wanted to be a radiologist, but uh,” he paused here to shrug and push his almost curly hair out of the way. “Med school is expensive.”

Damian hummed. “Yes, it does tend to be rather costly.”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m probably already gonna be in debt just from my BA, let alone a doctorate. And this is probably not something I should discuss with a celebrity, huh? Wow, where's my etiquette.”

Damian chuckled. “You are quite alright, Mr. Kent. Etiquette is stiff and time consuming. No need to act differently around me.”

"Yeah, well, Ma Kent didn't raise no hooligan."

Damian chuckled. "So are you in college then, I assume?"

Jon nodded, so Damian continued.

"A freshman, then? How old are you?"

"How old do you think I am?"

"18, if you're a freshman."

Jon chuckled and shook his head. "Nineteen. I'm a summer baby."

"Ah. Interesting-"

“Boys.”

Jon looked up to find they were getting the best Mom Look™ from Lois, he sheepishly ducked his head.

“Sorry, mom.”

Lois glanced from him, to Damian, who he was _holding a conversation with_ , then to Bruce.

“Hey, Jon, can you go refill my water, please?” She asked, holding up the stainless steel bottle she always had.

Jon glanced at Damian then shrugged, standing and pocketing his phone before walking over and taking it.

“Would you like anything, Mr. Wayne?”

“No, I’m okay with my coffee, thank you, though.”

Jon smiled and nodded, glancing over to see Damian already walking towards the door. He hesitated and then followed, turning and heading down towards the break room on this floor. Damian was in fact following him.

“So, uh, what are you guys having an interview for?” He asked, trying to figure out why this celebrity was in fact wanting to hang out with him.

“Oh, just some of the environmental projects Father and I have been working on.”

“Oh, nice. Yeah I’ve heard a lot about Wayne Enterprises Environmental campaign.”

Damian smiled, speeding up a bit to grab the break room door for Jon, holding it open, Jon murmured his thanks as he ducked his head a bit while walking through, heading over to the water cooler.

“It’s been my passion for the past few years, and I’m glad we’re finally getting things implemented, lord knows Gotham needs it.”

Jon chuckled lightly, glancing up for just a second. He remembered Gotham with his smog and gloom. It definitely needs some help, environment and air quality wise.

“Yeah, I can see that.”

Damian smiled at him, glancing down at his watch briefly. “So, Mr. Kent-”

“Just Jon, please. Not to pull the meme line, but Mr. Kent is . . . well, my grandpa, honestly.”

Damian chuckled. “Alright, Jon. . . “

His accent was so interesting, it was like, european or something? Jon couldn’t place it. It was smooth and gorgeous and kinda sexy. Unfortunately, Jon was too busy trying to figure out his accent to pay attention to what he was saying until it was too late and he had gotten himself involved in a rather . . . Interesting situation.

“Jon, I have a proposal for you."

"Really?" Jon asked, looking up as he capped his mother's water bottle.

"Indeed. I'm having an issue with the media I think you could help me with."

“An issue that involves radiology? Because there's not much else I'm good with."

“Acting actually." Damian was casually leaning against the break room counter top, hands in his pockets.

"Acting?"

"I’d like to hire you to pose as my significant other. The role mainly involves a few public appearances, maybe staying with me in my apartment, although I won’t require it to be in the same room. I’ll handle living expenses and you’ll be compensated well for taking the position.“

Jon just froze. Literally his brain just stopped and he stared at this gorgeous man in front of him, eyes bugging out of his head. Damian frowned, and was speaking, but Jon wasn't registering what he was saying.

"I'm sorry, _WHAT_?!" Jon exclaimed, once he finally found his voice.

"Ah. I know it's an . . . Interesting and surprising proposal."

Jon was choking on his own spit, his brain trying to understand this. Hot billionaire wants to fake date him? Hot billionaire wants-

"Wait, did you just offer to be my sugar daddy in exchange for being your arm candy?"

Damian looked offended at the suggestion, then he frowned at the floor.

"Huh. I guess I did. . ."

"You do realize this kinda makes you seem a little shady, right?"

Damian just smiled lightly. "Yes, I did. If the answer is no, then that's the end of it, I won't ever bring it up, nor pursue contact."

"Give me a second." Jon sighed, leaning against the water cooler and staring at the floor.

Pros? Money, "dating" a Wayne boy, getting out of his parents house, money, and, once again, need he say it again? Money. Cons? Social media is a cut throat place, explaining that he got a sugar daddy to his parents, inevitably having to "break up" with said Wayne boy, also that's a lot further of a college commute then Hamilton county to Metropolis . . .

"How much, like. . . " Jon hesitated, but Damian smoothly filled the gap.

"Besides your living expenses, gas, food, whatever else. . . I'll pay for whatever clothes you'd need for the different galas and events you would come to with me, plus oh . . . Does five thousand a month seem reasonable?"

Jon was really gonna choke on his own spit. As was he made a gagging nose and swayed a bit.

" _Five thousand?!?"_

"Is that too little?"

"Do you know how _normal humans_ work?!"

Damian's eyebrow arched, and he pulled his hands from his pockets to cross his arms.

"Honestly, no."

"Kids my age don't just casually make five thousand a month, kids my age make like, maybe a thousand, five hundred a month."

"Well, this isn't just a 'casual' job," Damian said with a chuckle. "You are acting like my boyfriend. It won't be as fun and easy as it seems."

Jon frowned, chewing on his lip a bit as he thought about this. He really shouldn't agree to this just right off the bat, but it _was_ really tempting.

"Listen can I . . . Can I think about this?"

"Yes, of course. It's not a decision you should just make on the fly. Here. . ."

Damian reached into his pocket, pulling him out his wallet and reaching into it, pulling out a business card. Then he looked around, scowling.

"Do you have a pen?"

Jon snorted. "Just give me your phone number?"

He pulled out his phone, offering it. Damian blinked once, then shrugged, stepping forwards and taking it. He quickly typed in his phone number and name and then handed it back.

"Just let me know, if you decide to accept. If you don't, no need to contact me."

Jon nodded to show he understood. Damian just smiled.

"We should get back to our parents."

"Yes, right!"

Jon spun on his heel and led the way back to the conference room, mind racing. It appeared that Lois and Bruce were done and were just chatting now, judging from how Lois was tapping away at her phone.

"Oh! There they are. Damian, are you ready to go?" Bruce said, looking up when they walked up.

"Whenever you are, Father," Damian told him with a charming smile that made Jon's little gay heart do a two step tap dance in his chest.

"Great, we have to get back home for that dinner with your brother."

"Right. Don't forget your coat," Damian reminded, going and grabbing his own and shrugging it on.

"Ah, yes, thank you."

Jon began slowly packing up his bag, glancing up and meeting Damian's eyes. The man smiled, and Jon looked away, down towards the ground.

"Well, as always it was a pleasure talking to you, Ms. Lane," Bruce was saying.

Jon threw his backpack on, bouncing slightly to adjust it. Then Damian was standing in front of him.

"It was nice to meet you, Jonathan," he said with that charming smile.

"Y-yeah, it was good to meet you too."

Damian held out his hand, and Jon shook it, Damian holding his hand a little longer than necessary.

"Just let me know," he said softly, winking and then turning away.

Jon just stared after him, thoroughly shocked. The Wayne's said goodbye to Lois and then walked out the door. Lois immediately whirled to Jon.

"You two seemed to get along well."

"Oh my gosh, Mom no."

Lois just laughed and shrugged.

"Come on, I need to type up these notes really fast, then we can go."

* * *

  
  


"It's just absolutely bonkers!"

"I think its fucking hilarious and amazing. You should take it."

"Kathy!"

"What?! Five thousand a month, plus living expenses?! Jump on that shit!"

Jon glared at Kathy across his orange chicken, and she just laughed. She was laughing at him. Because he had decided to tell her the one thing that had been consuming his mind for literally the whole week. His sugar daddy offer.

"Listen, dude. I'd just take it, what's the worst that can happen? You decide he's an absolute pig and hate him? Then you just fake a break up with him, and you skip town with your cash and new wardrobe and publicity."

"That's definitely not the worst that could happen," Jon muttered, shoving more orange chicken into his mouth.

"Oh really? What's the worst?"

"I dunno, he could like. . . Be homophobic or something."

"Dude. You're an idiot. He asked you, _a male_ , to fake date him. He's not homophobic."

"What if he's secretly a perv."

"Then you punch him in the dick and run."

"Fine, if you got an answer for everything, what happens if I fall for him?"

"Do I even need to answer that? You marry him, duh," Kathy said, flicking her hair over her shoulder and grinning.

Jon choked on his chicken, coughing into his hand. He looked up at Kathy, who just started laughing harder.

His best friend was a fiesty, short blonde woman who spent most of her time with cows. Social tact was not her strong suit but the flaming lesbian had managed to snag herself a cute little country bum girlfriend and had decided herself to be a love expert. And to be honest, she was right. Jon greatly valued his best friend's life advice for literally everything. 

"Listen. If you're not comfortable living with him, I'm sure you can figure something out with that, just start with negotiations!"

"You're serious? You think I should do this?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Oh and how exactly do you want me to tell my parents?"

Kathy frowned, chewing on the end of disposable chopsticks for a moment.

"Point. Maybe just tell them you're dating and leave out the sugar daddy part?"

"Oh because that's gonna go great as well. Yeah just casually say, 'hi mom, I'm dating a billionaire that I just met Tuesday'. Good idea, Kathy."

"Listen man, your parents are pretty chill, I'm sure they'll be supportive of you being a sex worker as long as you're being safe."

"I'm not!!!! I'm not becoming a sex worker! What the hell!?"

"I mean, you kinda are," Kathy said, shrugging. "If you accept, I mean. But anyway, why wouldn't you? Do you have another commitment? It's not like you have a lot of free time to work with college classes and stuff."

Jon sighed in annoyance. She was right. He didn't have time. And he was considering accepting it. He _could_ use the money, and getting to live the rich life for a while could be fun. And like Kathy said, he could just set boundaries. And if the guy did turn out to be a creep, well, Jon would be able to absolutely destroy him to the media. So he did have that pro. 

They went silent as they sat there and ate their Chinese. It was a Saturday, and Jon had been going absolutely insane with midterms studying, so Kathy had come and kidnapped him and took him to dinner, because one of them had money, and it was not him. He loved Kathy, they had been friends since they were really little. She lived with her grandpa, just down the street, and they would bring over fresh milk all the time. They hadn't been hanging out much since college had started, but they often face timed at like, 1am.

"Holy shit, don't look now," Kathy said, through a mouthful of food, staring behind him with wide eyes.

Jon, true to his dumbass nature, did not listen and turned around to look for what she had seen. Walking through the door was someone painfully familiar. Jon immediately whipped back around to face Kathy, putting up a hand to shield his face.

"Oh my God."

"Holy shit! How perfect is this!"

"Kathy, no!"

"Oh my God, just go tell him!"

In case, dear reader, you have not caught on, the human who walked through the door of Jon and Kathy's favorite downtown metropolis Chinese store, was none other then one Damian Wayne. Accompanied by a red head, but he was far less important than the arabic-american beauty that was Damian.

"I haven't even decided!" Jon hissed back, ducking his head away as Damian and his friend walked past to a table.

"Yes you have, and you know that!" Kathy snapped back.

He had. He really had. It's not like he had a better job offer coming. It was a little shady, but he's a poor fucking college student.

"Shhhh shut up, shut _up_ , let me think."

Kathy went silent, grinning at him. Jon glared and then looked down at his plate, poking at his chicken for a bit before groaning.

"Yes!" Kathy cheered in victory.

"Listen, I'm not gonna get up and go talk to him right now! He's with a friend! Who knows, maybe he's that guy's sugar daddy now."

Kathy twisted around to look. "No, that's his best friend."

"What???? How do you know that???"

"Because I _read_ the tabloids? Go talk to him!"

"I'm not gonna go interrupt his dinner!"

"Jonathan Samuel Kent!"

"Aak!" Jon ducked under Kathy's swipe, covering his head.

She glared at him and he shrugged. "If he's still there by the time we leave, or I see an opportunity, I'll go talk to him, otherwise I'll just text him or whatever."

"You fucking better or I'll beat your ass."

They sat there for a bit longer, and Jon was suddenly no longer hungry. He was really gonna go do this. He was really about to go get a sugar daddy, huh? Assuming Damian was still down. He had left the man hanging for nearly a whole week. Which was mildly awkward. . . Okay the whole situation was awkward but that's fine.

And then it happened. The red head got up and walked away, towards the bathroom, and Kathy immediately nodded back towards Damian.

"Oh crap," Jon muttered, standing.

Kathy practically had to push him away from their table towards Damian. His hands were shaking, and his legs felt weak and he could hear his heart pounding. Oh god he was just gonna die. He would just curl up and die, right now.

But nope. No it was too late, he was standing in front of Damian now, having not realized he had made it there. Damian slowly looked up from his phone, they made eye contact, and instantly realization dawned on his gorgeous face.

"Jonathan!" Damian exclaimed, standing.

"Hi," Jon said, weakly, holding out his hand.

Damian reached out to shake it, and Jon noted faintly that he was wearing a simple button down and slacks.

"I didn't notice you were here."

"Yeah, yeah, I was just," Jon waved weakly behind him towards his table. "Um, look, I wanted to talk to you about your, uh, about your proposal."

Damian's face fell slightly, sitting back in his seat and motioning for Jon to take his friends empty seat. He did, sitting cautiously on the edge.

"Jonathan, about that. I apologise for being so forward. There were many more . . . Tactful ways I could have presented that, and not been so brash about it. However, the offer is still completely real and serious."

Jon felt a small relieved breath escape him for . . . Some reason.

"Okay well, I wanna accept."

Damian blinked at him, then grinned. 

"That's good. I'm glad."

Jon felt himself grinning, then he got serious again.

"We will have to talk about boundaries and other things. Like I can't just up and move in the middle of spring semester."

Damian nodded. "That makes perfect sense, I'd be glad to talk about what you're comfortable with, and so on."

"Okay well. . . Can I text you? I don't want to interrupt your dinner. . ."

"Yes! That's perfectly fine. Send me a message and we can work things out," Damian told him with a handsome smile.

"R-right," Jon stammered, feeling logic rush out of his person, replaced by only 'gay panic' mode. 

Sure Jon, being an escort for a stupidly hot rich guy is a great idea. This won't go wrong at all.

"Okay, well, talk to you later," Jon said, standing.

"Yes. Have a lovely evening, Jonathan."

"Thanks, you too."

Jon walked away quickly, feeling like his legs were gonna turn into jello under him. He just power walked back to Kathy, slid into his seat, and gave a huge, over dramatic sigh.

"Well? How'd it go?"

"I got a sugar daddy."

"Nicce!!" Kathy cheered, bumping his foot.

Jon just laughed softly and shook his head.

Now he'd just have to figure out how to explain this to his parents.

* * *

  
  


Jon scowled at himself in the mirror, reaching out to fix his button down again.

Today, he was getting dinner with Damian so they could properly sit down and discuss their arrangement. He had to be there in about thirty minutes, and it just so happened that his parents were already out on a date(and going to a restaurant in another town), so he didn't have to explain this whole situation _just yet._

But here was the problem. Jon didn't have many "nice" clothes. Sure he had a suit or two for weddings and funerals and some nice clothes for business casual stuff or church, but nothing that he really felt good in or anything. Like this white button down he was wearing with jeans. It didn't fit quite right, it was a little baggier around the stomach then he would have liked, and the shoulders were too tight. But it was the only plain buttoned shirt he had, so he had to make do.

He put that on and tucked it into a pair of black jeans, the only unripped pair he had, and then some nice boots that didn't look too hipster or too punk either. He had opted to wear his contacts today, and his face felt a little weird without the blocky frames on his nose. He doesn't know why he prefers his glasses, contacts don't bother him, he's not grossed out by the idea of taking them in and out, he's just not used to seeing his face without the glasses. Though he does look hotter and less nerdy without them. Maybe that's why he chose to wear them today…

He quickly grabbed some hair products, trying to keep his hair from falling into his eyes, then turned and walked out, grabbing a jacket on the way out the door, and calling goodbye to no one as he shut the wood door behind him. 

A quick drive in his little, nothing terribly special, not worth mentioning the make and model, car and he was in downtown metropolis, parking a few blocks from some small business restaurant that Damian had picked out. He, after successfully achieving two hour parking, started walking. Luckily it was nice enough out that he didn't mind the walk, just shoved his hands in his coat pockets and smiled to people as he passed. He got to the door and happened to look up and see Damian walking towards him, so he waited, pulling the door open when the billionaire reached him.

"Hello," he said, smiling, reaching out, lightly touching Jon's shoulder.

"Hi," Jon shot back cheerfully, following him inside. 

Damian walked over to the small host station, talking with him softly for a moment before waving for Jon to follow them as they were immediately seated.

"Well that was quick," Jon remarked as he shrugged off his jacket and slid into a booth.

"I may have called ahead," Damian chuckled out, sitting down across from him.

“Oh well now that explains some things.”

Damian chuckled again. A server appeared, quickly taking their drink and appetizer orders before disappearing again. Damian pulled off his tweed trench coat and then folded his hands on the table, looking up at Jon.

“How have you been?”

“I’m good, finished midterms this week so I get a little breathing room for a bit and then everyone will start piling on hard stuff again.”

“Hmm, yes, I remember the times.”

Jon smiled slightly. Now, dear readers, Jon had done his research. Maybe a little too much research, but listen. This guy had asked to be his sugar daddy, he had rights to information. Damian Wayne was twenty-two. He had studied abroad for two years after high school(which he graduated from at seventeen), and then went to some fancy ivy league school up in the north-east somewhere. Now he was an environmental ambassador, model, and occasionally worked for Wayne Enterprises. He was a darling of the media, a social media influencer, and a queer icon. So definitely not homophobic, but lord knows why he need a fake boyfriend.

“You went to college?” Jon asked, like he didn’t know this. “What for?”

“Oh, social studies mostly, some business.”

“Nice!”

Damian hummed, nodding. “Nothing quite as interesting as radiology, I’m afraid.”

“Naw, social studies is cool,” Jon said, shrugging.

A small smile graced Damian’s lips, and Jon forcefully pulled his gaze away, looking around the restaurant. It was nice, simple, mature decorations, plenty of plants, kind of a hipster vibe, but not too strong on the hipster. Things were clean, there was good lighting, but not too harsh of lighting, and he could faintly hear some ambient music over the noise of the other patrons.

Damian had shifted to look at his menu, so Jon followed his example, looking for something that was familiar but new as well. Then again he hadn’t ever eaten here before, so everything was _technically_ new, but still, when you go to a new restaurant, you wanna make sure that you get something you’ll like, so as to not ruin the experience, plus he really didn’t want to fuck something up right now. So what was a good middle ground. . . Then he noticed the prices on these foods and felt his heart leap into his throat. _Jesus Christ_ he was glad Damian had already stated he was paying for this, because holy hell.

When their server came back with their appetizers - some kind of fancy bread with cheese and pesto on it - and drinks, they were ready to order as well. Damian got some sort of tomato soup, after quizzing the server of the contents of it, while Jon just settled for their cheddar and broccoli soup. With ordering done, they had started lightly snacking on their appetizers. It was time to get to business.

“So,” Jon started, clearing his throat and sipping his sweet tea before continuing. “Should we go ahead and start discussions?”

Damian nodded, folding his hands in his lap, but didn’t speak. Jon took a breath and launched into this like it was a job interview. Which it more or less was, wasn’t it. He and Kathy had spent an evening brainstorming, thinking about what boundaries he should set, and what questions he needed to ask.

“What exactly will be expected of me with all of this?” Jon asked, sliding into serious mode.

“It will be relatively simple, you will act as if we were dating, but while there is no actual relationship. Originally I had planned for you to come to Gotham, but I understand that may not work with your school and family life.”

Jon nodded. “Okay. Yeah, so that last bit is a no go, at least for now. And now being the next two months, at least. I need to focus on my school as much as possible so I don’t have to repeat classes and stuff.”

“Completely understandable.”

“And uh.” Another nervous sip of his drink. “What does fake dating Damian Wayne entail?”

“Mostly publicity,” he explained, giving a soft smile. “Social Media posts, maybe a few dates here and there, as well as attending various gala’s and dinners with me.”

Jon nodded, considering this. He could probably do that. “As long as they don’t interfere with my classes, then I can do that.”

“I’m glad. And I’m perfectly willing to work around your schedule, your life is a priority in all this.”

Jon nodded again. “Okay. I have some boundaries.”

“I assumed.”

“I’m fine with like, pretend PDA or whatever for the camera’s, but I’m not a booty call, so for the media and stuff is the only time kissing is allowed. Also I’m not sleeping with you.”

Damian chuckled, an amused grin cracking on his face. “I didn’t expect that of you.”

“Also, if I do happen to be spending the night or whatever, I’d like to be in a separate room.”

A nod was his answer to this.

“Does your family know about . . . this?” Jon waved vaguely between them.

“They do not. But if you wish I can tell them.”

“It’s up to you, if you wanna tell them we’re fake dating or whatever, then that’s fine. I’m going to have to tell mine or they’re going to absolutely bust a vein or something."

“That seems unlikely,” Damian said, sounding amused.

“Hey, you just know Reporter Clark and Lois. I know Parents Clark and Lois. They’re different.”

Damian chuckled. “Fair enough. Anything else?”

“Yeah. . . Isn’t five thousand a little much, plus living costs?”

Damian frowned slightly, leaning back in his seat. “Is it?”

“I don’t know, I just . . . I could rent one of the nicer apartments in Metropolis for that much.”

Damian smiled again. “Housing would count under living costs.”

“Oh god. What have I got myself into.”

Here, the model across from him laughed, tilting back his head slightly. “A get rich quick scheme, it seems.”

“Yeah, apparently.”

“I have a tomato bisque and a cheddar broccoli soup?”

Both men started slightly, looking up as their server appeared with a tray.

“Oh, thank you!” Damian exclaimed, taking his soup from the server.

Both soups had a large section of a baguette along the side. It smelled delicious and was still steaming. Jon immediately ripped off a section of the crusty outside and dipped it into his soup, eagerly shoving it into his mouth. Damian was lightly stirring his soup, probably to get it to cool.

“Is there anything else you wished to discuss?” Damian asked.

“Uh, not off the top of my head? You?”

“Just one thing. I assume it goes without saying that this arrangement needs to stay as private as possible. The less people who know the better, and please only tell people you absolutely trust.”

Jon nodded. “Oh of course. I mean, we wouldn’t want it leaked that Damian Wayne is a sugar daddy.”

Damian stared at him for a moment, and then let out a little laugh, like he was surprised by this statement. Jon grinned at him before fully diving into his food. 

They chatted a little over their food, but mostly focused on eating. By the time they had actually finished, Jon felt surprisingly at ease around Damian. 

“Well, the next gala is Friday, and I would like to take you out shopping for some suits early in the week, if that is possible? The sooner the better,” Damian was saying, while signing the check for their food.

“Yeah, sure. Ummm hold on.”

Jon grabbed his phone and checked his calendar, frowning at it for a bit before pulling up monday.

“I have a three hour break monday around lunch time? It’s like from ten to . . . . I don't know one-thirty?”

“Oh, that’s perfect. I can come down and pick you up, there are some good designers here in Metropolis that I love working with.”

“Okay! I can text you the college address and you can just get me there?"

“That works perfectly,” Damian said with a smooth smile.

They got up and put on their coats, walking out the door together. 

“See you monday!” Jon called, waving as he turned to walk down the road towards his car.

“Yes, and thank you for meeting me, Jonathan!”

“Bye!”

Jon waved once more before turning to face forwards, grinning to himself. This was so dumb. He was fake dating a billionaire. He was getting paid by said billionaire to fake date him. He had a fucking sugar daddy, basically. Never in a million years had he imagined this would happen to him, and yet.

* * *

  
  


“I’m going to warn you, we will be spending a lot of money, and I don’t want you freaking out on me.”

“Too late.”

Jon was already freaking out. He was freaking out the moment he stepped into the sleek black 1969 Maserati Ghibli 4.7. He was freaking out the moment he looked over and saw Damian Wayne in a three piece wine red suit wearing some expensive pair of Ray-Bans. I mean, here Jon was, wearing high-waisted jeans and a patterned button down with a black shirt underneath, and Damian was wearing a _three piece suit_.

Damian chuckled, glancing over. 

“You okay over there?”

“Nopeee.”

“Let me know if you need to take a break and I’ll whisk you out.”

“Are we. . . Are we pretending to be dating already?”

“I assumed so.”

Jon nodded, time to get into acting mode. “How, um. . . How touchy do you want me to be?”

Damian shrugged. “I’m not an overly affectionate person, so no need to go overboard with it. Just follow my lead.”

Jon nodded as Damian pulled up next to the street to park. They were in the _expensive_ part of Metropolis. The part that Jon and his friends only came to in order to mock rich people. And now Jon was actually shopping here. Like, he would actually be getting clothes here. Damian hopped out of the car when there was a break in traffic, walking around to put coins in the parking meter. Jon hesitated, but shoved his backpack under the dash and got out, fiddling with his windbreaker while he waited for Damian. After a minute the billionaire turned to him.

“May I hold your hand?” He asked, locking the car quickly.

“Uh- . . uh yeah.”

Jon silently wiped his hand on his jeans before offering it to Damian, who took it, but didn’t intertwine their fingers, just turned and started leading him towards a store at the end of the block. This is fine. Act like your dating. Remember your drama classes, Jonathan. They walked over to the store, Damian reached out to pull the door open, glancing back at Jon and smiling. Then he pushed him through the door.

“Should we get help?” Jon whispered, looking around the store with wide eyes.

“No, we let help come to us,” Damian assured him, pulling him aside to look at shirts.

Sure enough, not two minutes later, a man walked over.

“Excuse me sir.”

They looked up from the silk button down Damian had been commenting on, and Damian arched his eyebrow.

“I am Mr. Thompson, I’m the store manager.”

“Ah, I’m Damian,” there was a slight pause here, Damian glancing back at Jon. “Wayne.”

The manager's face immediately shifted from annoyance to surprise, with a mix of fear.

“Tell me, sir. Do you see this gorgeous young man here?” Damian said, grabbing Jon’s arm and lightly pulling him forwards. 

Jon smiled charmingly even as his face started turning bright red.

“Do you have anything in this store nearly as beautiful as him?”

“Yes- I mean! We certainly have some beautiful items, but nowhere near as gorgeous as him.”

Okay, Kent, stop turning red. Play it cool.

“Good, because, sir.” Damian released Jon and stepped in to talk to the man a little better. “We are going to be spending an obscene amount of money, and you better start doing your best to kiss up to us.”

Jon was nearly immediately whisked away to be measured and as he was being pulled and prodded and wrapped in a measuring tape by a random woman he’d never seen in his life, Damian and the manager stood a bit aways, whispering to each other. He couldn't hear them over the music and the store associate who was talking to him, but it was obvious they were talking about him from how they were both staring.

Soon Jon was getting pushed into fitting rooms with dozens of suits and shirts and expensive pants that he could never imagine ever owning in his life. He would try one on, step out, and immediately get either sent back in to change, or cooed over like a prize pet. He found himself looking to Damian for approval, the billionaire was sat on a nearby sofa, lounged out in this cocky position like he owned the whole store, putting himself on display. His jacket had been removed at some point so he was just wearing the dark button down and the wine red vest, and damn he looked gorgeous.

Snap out of it, Kent. You’re working. You’re not here to fall in love, or even have a real boyfriend. You’re here to get money and pay bills. Oh god, he was becoming a sex worker, wasn’t he.

They had been there for nearly an hour, and Jon had several new suits which were _so expensive and he was probably going to cry._ And now they had moved on to more casual wear, like tailored jeans and those super expensive t-shirts that were just plain shirts but they were super nice fabric and also tailored so they are so expensive. Like, most of this stuff he’d have to pick up later because it had to be tailored. Even untailored it looked so. fucking. good. But by now, Jon was feeling himself, if he thought of it like playing dress up, he was fine. He was pretending to be rich. It was fine, he could put on expensive things to amuse a billionaire for a while.

“Mr. Kent, have you ever considered becoming a model?” the associate was saying as she marked down measurements for a pair of pants that needed tailored.

“Um, no?”

“You should,” the other one who was helping put back clothes said, looking him up and down. “Your face and body type is perfect for it, plus I would bet you would be perfect for some more androgynous type modeling.”

“Oh. . .”

“If you are ever interested, I can get you in contact with my agent, I agree with them,” Damian offered, looking up from the magazine he had been reading, eyes trailing over Jon.

“T-thanks,” Jon stammered, quickly looking away. 

At one point, the women rushed away to get new outfits, despite Jon feeling like he had tried everything in the store on, and he walked over, flopping down beside Damian.

“Getting overwhelmed?” Damian asked, setting down his magazine and reaching over, putting his arm on the back of the sofa behind Jon.

He looked up to see a rich looking business woman being helped by the last store associate, she was looking at them, eyes narrowed. Jon shifted into Damian a little closer, hooking his foot around Damian’s ankle as he settled in a little closer, smiling and pulling the most in love expression he knew how to manage.

“A little. You sure do like to spoil your boyfriends.”

Damian smiled, glancing sideways to see what Jon has seen before falling into the act as well.

“Yes, well. If you got it, might as well use the money on good causes, shouldn’t I?” Damian asked, settling his free hand on Jon’s thigh.

“I suppose so.”

“Will you have enough time to get lunch?”

“Well if this is our only store. . . “ Jon said, glancing at his watch. 

He felt Damian wince, and the man reached out, picking up his wrist. “This has to go.”

Jon looked at the old digital watch he’d had since sophomore year.

“Why?”

“Because you can’t be wearing a digital watch from the supermarket with a four thousand dollar suit.”

Jon twitched, looking up at Damian again. “New rule? Don’t ever tell me how expensive things are.”

Damian laughed, reaching up to gently boop Jon’s nose. “I will refrain in the future.”

“Okay! Here’s some new outfits!”

By the end of their day of shopping, Jon was leaving with four new suits, a couple new shirts, some fancy jeans and other trousers, new dress shoes, new sneakers, some new fancier type of shoes, a new watch and even some new fancy brand of underwear. He refused to look at the price tags of most things. Absolutely refused. The watch, however, he had seen and it had nearly killed his soul. He was probably only going to wear it when he absolutely had too. Damian had also taken him to lunch, and Jon prepared to not notice the paparazzi who stole several photos of them. He packed all his new clothes safely away in his trunk, after Damian dropped him off by it, and went to his class for the day, feeling absolutely exhausted, but strangely happy.

Jon had not been expecting his parents to be home. Usually when he got home after class on Monday, they were still at work. But they were both in the kitchen, laughing as they sipped iced tea and discussed dinner. He hadn’t seen Clark’s car, considering it was in the garage, so when he pushed open the door, burdened down by bags and suits and other things(and this was only his first trip), he froze in horror when he heard Lois call to him.

“Hi Jonno!”

Oh no. Abort. Abort mission. Time to run away and become a vagabond. He couldn’t- they would ask where he got all the new clothes from and he’d have to explain where he’d gotten the money and then they’d ask why and he’d have to explain the sugar daddy situation and it was just one big mess.

“Hi mom,” he called back weakly, heading for the stairs, maybe he could get up before they saw him.

“Woah, that’s a lot of bags, kiddo.”

Damn.

Jon froze on the edge of the steps, turning to face his dad, who was standing in the kitchen doorway, Lois came over to join him. They both were staring at him in shock.

“Jon. . . what is this?”

“Crap.”

In the end, he ran his things upstairs and quickly laid out the things that were at risk of wrinkling before going back down, where his parents were sitting on the sofa, waiting for him. He slowly sunk into the armchair across from them.

“This. . . this is going to sound a little weird,” Jon started, wincing in advance. Oh this was going to go either really horrible or only slightly horrible.

“Jon, what’s going on?” Lois asked, squinting, her reporter brain probably already making up a million scenarios.

“Um, you know the Wayne’s?”

“Yes, of course we do,” Clark confirmed, looking equally concerned as Lois.

“Okay, so. . . god this is gonna sound weird. You know how I met Damian a few weeks ago? Yeah. . . so. . . he’s- we’re-”

“Jon.”

“We’re fake dating!”

“What?” Clark asked, even more confused.

“Well, so. . . he asked me to fake date him so he would have someone going to social events with him.”

His parents blinked at him for a moment.

“You’re an escort?” Lois asked, eyebrow raising.

And somehow, that was far worse than any other comparison anyone else had made so far.

“What!?” Jon practically screeched. “No! I’m just! Pretending to date him! And he’s paying me for it and-”

He shouldn’t have said that.

“So. . . so he’s your sugar daddy?”

“Lois!” Clark exclaimed.

“Oh my GOD!” Jon buried his face in his hands.

Clark and Lois were bickering for a moment, then went silent. Then Lois was crouching in front of him.

“Listen, Jon. There’s nothing wrong with being a sex worker, as long as you’re being safe and using protection, and I’m sure with a little bit of research we can find your rights and a good union and-"

“ _Oh my god_ , you did _not_ just offer to help me become a sex worker?! And on top of that! I’m not a sex worker, I’m just-”

“Being an escort for Damian Wayne?”

“I am not!”

“Really?” Clark questioned. “Because you’re pretending to date him, attending social events with him, he’s buying you clothes, and he’s paying you? That’s pretty much the description for an escort.”

“Oh my god.” 

Jon was going to die. He was just going to die. He was going to keel over on the spot and die of embarrassment. He _was_ becoming a sex worker, and his _parents were encouraging him_. It’s official. This is how he dies.

“Listen, Jon. We’re not judging you-”

“What!?”

“We’re not. Or well, I’m not, and if your father is, he can shut his trap.”

“Why not!?”

“Well, because I know the Wayne’s, and while they’re a kind of weird family, they’re not shady or suspicious or anything. I don’t know Damian’s reasoning for deciding to fake a relationship, but that boy doesn’t do anything without thinking long and hard about it, so I’m sure he has his reasons,” Lois told him gently. “Plus, they’re celebrities. If he does do anything weird, you can just destroy his public image in revenge.”

“That’s what Kathy said, what the hell?” Jon breathed out, eyes wide.

“Language.”

“We just want you to be safe, Jon,” Clark said. “I assume you’ve discussed some boundaries with him?”

“Yeah. No sex, no kissing unless it’s for the camera, those types of things.”

Both parents nodded, considering this.

“How much is he paying you?” Lois asked randomly.

Jon winced. “You’re not gonna believe this.”

“Jon.”

“Five thousand a month, plus gas money.”

Lois’ mouth fell open, and Clark choked on spit.

“That’s not including any other additional costs due to him, plus all the clothes he bought.”

“Christ,” Lois breathed.

“Language,” Jon reminded, and she hit his knee.

“Wow, that’s . . . that’s a lot, kiddo,” Clark said softly. 

It was. He didn’t even know if his parents made that much monthly.

“Yeah. . .”

“And how long do you have this . . . uh, arrangement?”

“I don’t know, we didn’t set a timeline?”

“I feel like you should probably sign a contract for this or something.”

Jon sputtered a bit, shaking his head. “Nonono, this is strictly under the table. As far as the world is concerned, we’re boyfriends.”

Lois nodded, sighing. “Well. Come on. I want to see all these clothes he got you.”

* * *

If Jon spilled anything on himself right now, he would absolutely sob. Like, no matter where he was, he would just sit down and sob. 

He was wearing a light gray three piece suit, tailored perfectly to his body, accentuating the good parts and helping to mask the not so good ones. He had this pale dusty blue tie that he was _positive_ he tied wrong, but that was fine. He had a pair of light brown oxfords that he had worn around the house for a few days just to break them in, and those matched his belt which was also some fancy brand. Not to mention the watch. The watch who's price tag nearly made him pass out. It was bad. Well, expensive, not bad. 

He had just arrived and been let into the fancy parking garage of Damian's apartment building, which was equally as fancy. He was, in fact, going to be spending the night, because Damian had said that this charity gala probably wouldn't be done until late at night. So he had immediately just caved because he did not want to drive three hours home at 1am. It wasn't terribly hard to find parking, just picking a random spot because Damian had assured him there was not assigned parking. He grabbed his bag from the back and locked his car before getting in the elevator and heading up to the top floor, where Damian's apartment was.

Finally the elevator stopped on the eighth floor with a chime, and Jon stepped off, looking around. The building was clearly very nice, it was kept very clean, the hallways looked a bit like a hotel, and there were only a few apartments per floor, probably because they were huge. He headed down a hall, glancing at his phone for the apartment number and stopping outside the door, knocking and then shooting Damian a text. Less than a minute later, he got a returning one telling him to come on in.

He tried the handle and found it unlocked and stepped inside, turning to shut the door behind him before looking around the apartment. He let out a little gasp. The place just _looked_ expensive. Exposed brick and an open floor plan is what immediately greeted him. The furniture was neutral cream colors with some colored accent pillows and blankets, the area rug was a bright gray pattern. To the left of the door was a huge kitchen/dining area, the kitchen was obviously up to date with it's appliances and the dining table and chairs had this antique vibe to them. To the right, coming down into the living space was a set of stairs, which led up to a little balcony Esq area, off of which he could see a couple doors.

"Ah, there you are."

Jon looked around to see Damian appearing from a door under the stairs, and his brain lagged for a solid minute. Damian, in all his billionaire Arabic beauty, was wearing a dark, charcoal gray, three piece suit and this dark green button down, with a few buttons undone at the top. His hair was styled perfectly, and as he got closer, Jon realized with a small start that he was wearing makeup. Nothing too obvious, but some light eyeshadow, base makeup and some lipstick, maybe(yes Jon knows makeup, he used to watch beauty influencers, leave our gay boy alone).

"Jonathan?" Damian asked, eyebrow arching.

"Sorry! Hi! I just. . . You look good."

Damian chuckled, walking up to him.

"As do you, but unfortunately I do have to fix this tie."

Damian reached out, flicking up Jon's collar and undoing his tie. There was something wildly sexual about Damian just yanking his tie off, but Jon kept his mouth shut and his mind safely out of the gutter.

"What, is my basic high school prom tie not good enough for you?" Jon joked lightly, cracking a grin.

"No, I'm afraid it is not. We will have to teach you some new knots at some point."

Damian gently reached up, tilting his chin up before starting to tie the knot in some complicated tie. Jon stood there and stared up at the high ceilings as he waited patiently.

"How was your drive up?"

"It was good," Jon murmured, feeling like he had to talk softer due to their close proximity.

"I'm glad. I know the traffic can be hell on Friday's."

"I only got stuck in rush hour for the last hour or so."

"Good."

He felt Damian folding down his collar again, so he risked looking down, and noted faintly that Damian was a little taller than usual.

"There that's better." Damian started to tuck the tie into his vest then stopped, pulling his hands away.

"Thanks."

Jon quickly tucked it in, adjusting it a bit to make sure it was straight. Damian turned and walked away, into the kitchen, grabbing a water glass from the cabinet.

"So I assume you've never been to a charity gala before?"

"Nope. Is it anything like prom?"

"I wouldn't know. But when we get there-"

"No. Stop," Jon interrupted, staring at him.

"Pardon."

"You didn't go to prom?"

Damian shrugged. "I jumped between private school and homeschool a lot. Prom didn't always workout and I didn't want to go anyway. I spent most of my teen years going to charity galas and balls and banquets. It lost its appeal."

"Huh. I suppose that makes sense, but that's kinda sad," Jon said, walking over and sitting down at the breakfast bar.

Damian shrugged. "Anyway. When we arrive, we'll immediately enter onto a sort of red carpet, paparazzi and journalists will be there, and this is when you'll really be exposed to the media. The publicity after Monday will be nothing like tonight. I suggest turning any of your social media to private if you don't wish to be swarmed by outraged teenagers by morning."

Jon chuckled, pulling out his phone.

"Alright."

"So we'll get our pictures taken, then we'll be inside the gala. I'll take you over to my family first, they know about our arrangement, by the way, and you'll get to meet them, and then I'll spend the next few hours playing hot rich popular man. Sweet talk a few people, do my thing." 

Damian was just leaning against an insanely clean counter as he explained this, looking completely unbothered.

"What do I do?"

"Well, part of it you'll have to stick with me and get questioned and fawned over and so on and so forth, but if you want to just find some place out of the way and sit down for the rest of it, that's perfectly fine with me."

Jon nodded, looking down at his phone as he finished turning the last social media to private for now.

"Any other questions?"

"I dunno. I don't know what I don't know."

"Eloquent," Damian said with a small snort, pushing off of the counter. He walked over to the door, grabbing a coat and some keys. "Ready?"

"Sure."

Twenty minutes later, they were getting out of the car outside this huge old looking building, there were reporters pinned back by velvet ropes, leaving a fairly wide path up the stairs into the building. A valet person whisked away the car from behind them as Damian stepped up to Jon.

"Here, wait," Damian murmured, barely heard over the crowd. He reached out, tugging down Jon's vest a bit and then fixing his jacket, smoothing down his tie last. "Ready to perform?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Damian grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers, and started leading him up the steps. People were shouting, cameras were flashing, and Jon was starting to see spots, but he smiled and put on a pretty good show. At the top of the stairs, Damian turned to him again, reaching out to fix his hair quickly, then leaning in to kiss him on the cheek, lingering for just a second extra before stepping back and smiling at him. Then he pulled him inside.

Jon expected it to be quieter inside, but somehow, it almost seemed worse. They had entered into this big open ballroom type place, crowds of people standing around and talking, some actually dancing, some sitting at tables eating. Damian didn't drop his hand like he expected, just started pulling him away.

"You certainly know how to play to a camera," Jon said, crowd weaving behind Damian.

"Well, I spent my whole life performing for the public, so I would sure hope. Anyway, the media will eat up those pictures, they'll probably adore you. The blush at the end was good too."

Jon blushed thinking about it. The kiss on the cheek had been unexpected and unplanned, but sweet and kinda nice.

"Ah well. . ." Jon immediately trailed off, nothing to add there.

"Father!"

Damian had led him right up to a small cluster of people, leaning around a phone, and it occurred to Jon that he was about to meet _all_ the Wayne's. At once.

“Oh, Damian!”

The group of people looked up and Jon felt a moment of dread wash over him.

“Oh my god, is this the boy?” One of the men asked, stepping in front of Jon, taking his hands, looking him up and down. “Dami, he’s so cute!”

“Richard,” Damian said, rolling his eyes, but still he looked amused.

“Uhh, hi,” Jon managed. “I’m Jon.”

“I figured,” the man said with a chuckle, squeezing Jon’s hands. “I’m Dick.”

“Nice to meet you.”

There was a quick round of introductions, names and faces that Jon was going to struggle to remember because there was just so much going on at the moment. They stood there and talked with Damian’s family for nearly thirty minutes, and then Damian snagged his hand and pulled him away, off towards a hors d'oeuvres table, snagging two champagne flutes from a server as he walked.

“I can’t drink, I’m nineteen,” Jon reminded as Damian passed him one.

“Well, then you aren’t drinking, you’re holding that for me. And if you just so happen to take a few sips. . .” Damian said, shooting him an amused look.

“Gosh you’re a bad influence aren’t you?”

“Me? Never! How dare you accuse me of such things!”

Jon laughed, glancing down at the champagne flute in his hand. He shrugged and sipped it. It was nice and creamy in his mouth, bubbly but not like a soda. To be fair, it did taste a bit like sparkling water, but also a little like honey, and maybe he was insane, but it almost had a bready taste. Damian was watching him with an amused smirk as he sipped his own.

“What?” Jon asked with a laugh, lowering the glass from his lips.

“I thought you didn’t drink?” This was clearly a jab, judging by the sparkle in Damians eyes, and the way he turned away to pick up some fruity hors d'oeuvre.

“Oh shut up,” Jon said with a small laugh, bumping Damian’s arm lightly.

“Damian!”

“Oh shit.”

Damian hurriedly turned around, a smile plastering itself on his face. Walking up to them was an older woman, a younger man trailing behind him and looking less than pleased. Damian shifted the hand his champagne glass was in, and reached out, looping an arm around Jon’s waist and tugging him in close against his side.

“Mrs. Samson!” Damian said, tilting his head towards the woman.

“How are you dear?”

Damian pulled away just long enough to do one of those european cheek kiss greetings, then immediately resumed his place against Jon’s side. Jon was definitely not thinking about Damian's long fingers curled tightly against his hip bone, and he was definitely not thinking about how he could smell Damian’s cologne, woody and warm and spice-y. He must have missed a portion of the conversation while he was not thinking these things, because Mrs. Samson had turned to look at him.

“And who is this?!”

“Ah, this is my boyfriend, Jon.”

“Hello, there!” 

“Hi!” Jon shook her extended gloved hand, and had this moment of horror when she had the daintiest handshake in existence. 

Who does that? Like you go in for a handshake and expect a nice firm solid handshake, and instead you get this tiny dainty snobbish handshake? It’s revolting, please stop doing that. Please just shake hands like a normal fucking human, nice and firm and telling of your confidence. Ladies, you can shake hands like that too. Just. Please, shake hands normally.

“How long have you two been dating?”

“Oh, just a few weeks now. This is his first gala with me.”

“Oh, you poor dear, this must be terribly overwhelming for you.”

“Well, it is certainly new,” Jon said, pushing out a nervous chuckle. “But I think I’ll be able to handle it, with Damian here.”

“Aww,” she said, smiling at them. “Damian, dear, how is your mother? I haven’t seen her in awhile.”

“Oh, she’s doing remarkably, Mrs. Samson. I believe she is in Australia at the moment for some environmental conventions and rally’s, but she should be back by the end of this month.”

“Oh that’s good, I do love talking with her. She’s quite the intelligent woman.”

“That she is.” Damian glanced over at Jon and smiled.

“And how did you two meet?”

“Well, his mother introduced us.”

“Oh? Is she a friend of the family?”

“More or less,” Jon told her with a chuckle.

The younger gentleman was looking increasingly more uncomfortable, shifting his weight back and forth, glancing between the “couple”. Damian had Jon practically plastered against his side, and Jon had ended up putting his arm around Damian, over his arm, just so he could be comfortable and not squished there. They chatted with these two for a while before she finally excused them, and they walked away. Damian let out a sigh and released Jon, stepping back and sipping his champagne.

“What was that about?” Jon asked with a small laugh, finishing his drink, which he had been silently sipping the whole time.

“The young gentleman behind her was one of my past . . um, flings, shall we say,” Damian explained. “We did not end on a particularly good note, but I suspect he still harbors feelings for me.”

“Oh, damn. That sucks, I’m sorry.”

Damian shrugged. “Well, that is part of the reason I have you, isn’t it.”

He smiled and turned away, grabbing one last little snack before beginning to walk away. Jon hurried to follow, having this sudden thought that he didn’t know why exactly Damian had asked him to do this.

“Hey, Damian.”

A hum was the response, barely heard over the din of the crowd and the live band.

“You never told me exactly why you wanted to do this?” Jon said, motioning between them.

“Ah. A conversation for a later time, perhaps? Not a great time to be discussing our secret,” Damian said, glancing back at him.

“Okay that’s fair.”

The next few hours was a carousel of chatting with people wearing entire house mortgages just on their persons, snacking where he could, getting a tiny bit tipsy of champagne, and sitting by himself in the corners as he texted Kathy and Billy. They didn’t leave until after midnight, and Jon just slumped back into his seat in the car, yawning.

“Tired?” Damian asked with a laugh, glancing over at him.

“Oh, just a bit.”

Damian smiled softly at him before pulling out of the parking lot. They drove in silence, other than the soft music playing over the radio. Jon may have dozed off as they drove, because suddenly Damian was nudging his arm softly.

“Jonathan, we’re here.”

“Huh? Oh.”

Jon yawned and stretched, rubbing his eyes for a moment before undoing his seatbelt and getting out of the car. Damian locked it behind them, before leading the way to the elevator, up it, then to his apartment.

“Go change and make sure you lay out that suit, it will need to be sent to dry cleaning, but don’t you dare just throw it on the floor,” Damian ordered.

“I would never.” Jon grabbed his bag from the floor then stopped, turning to Damian. “Um, where am I changing though?”

“Oh right.”

Damian had been heading for the kitchen, but spun on his heel and headed up the stairs, walking to one of the few doors and pushing it open.

“Here, the bathroom is just down there,” Damian told him, pointing towards a door at the end of the little balcony upstairs hallway.

“Okay, thanks.”

Damian hummed before turning and walking away. Jon slipped inside the room and clicked the door shut behind him, before looking around. It looked like it was straight out of an interior design magazine, white or maybe off white walls, a queen size bed in the middle of the room with an antique looking headboard, white bedspread with blue and gray throw pillows. The floors were hardwood like the rest of the apartment, nearly perfectly matched bedside tables with white lamps on either side. The curtains of the room were white, but with the thick blackout curtains behind. He walked over and pulled those shut before setting his bag on the bed.

He carefully changed out of the suit, hanging it up on the hanger he had so wisely grabbed, and then sticking it in the closet for safe keeping. Finally out of rich person clothes, he pulled on some sweats and a t-shirt before grabbing his bathroom stuff and ducking into the bathroom quickly. When he was on the way back to his room, he heard Damian talking and paused. He happened to glance down to the main floor and may have screeched with joy.

“You didn’t tell me you had a dog!”

Damian’s head snapped up from the great dane he had been talking to, up to Jon, who quickly dropped his things on the floor by the door to hurry down the stairs. The great dane turned to face him, tail wildly wagging, but he still looked wary.

“Titus, easy,” Damian said softly.

Jon held out a hand, and the dog, Titus, slowly edged forwards, sniffing his hand a bit before whining and jumping forwards, starting to sniff Jon eagerly.

“Honestly, I feel betrayed,” Jon said, looking up at Damian as he rubbed the huge dog’s back.

“Why’s that?” Damian asked with a chuckle. He was holding a glass in his hand that was about a quarter full of a honey colored liquid. Alcohol probably.

“Because it’s like, the law that you gotta tell someone when you have a dog. And you didn’t!”

“Admittedly I did not intend on him leaving my room, I should have asked if you were okay with dogs earlier, but unfortunately I forgot. I suppose you are.”

“I love dogs,” Jon assured, crouching to let Titus give him slobbery kisses, giggling the whole time.

“That is good. I’m glad. I also have a cat.”

“Oh my god. Show. Where is he?”

Damian set down his drink and walked away, up the stairs. Jon watched him go for a second before returning to petting Titus, having already gotten knocked down on his ass. Soon Damian came back, a white and black cat in his arms.

“Oh dear, Titus, sit down and behave!”

The great dane sat with a thump in front of Jon, wagging and panting happily. Jon giggled and then stood, turning to face Damian.

“This is Pennyworth,” He informed Jon, stroking the cats back.

“Oh he’s gorgeous!” Jon exclaimed, stepping in close and rubbing his head.

The cat purred happily, tail swishing back and forth as he rubbed his head against Jon’s hand.

“He’s pretty friendly.”

“He loves anyone who will give him affection.”

Jon chuckled, and when Damian held him out, he eagerly accepted the cat, cradling him against his chest. Damian walked away to pick his drink back up, turning to face Jon again. He had removed his jacket and vest at some point, and was now just dressed in his slacks and button down. It was a good look for him.

“What time do you have to be home by tomorrow?” Damian asked, before knocking back the rest of his drink. He didn’t even pull a face after.

“Oh, I dunno, noon or so? I don’t _have_ to be home by any specific time, but I do have some homework I have to do after I get back.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

They just stood there in the kitchen for a moment in silence, Jon focusing on the cat in his arms, unaware of Damian watching him. 

“You wanted to know why I asked for a fake relationship?”

“Oh. Yeah! I probably should have asked sooner.”

Damian shrugged, turning to rinse and quickly wash his glass, setting it on a drying mat after.

“Admittedly the reasons were entirely selfish. I was tired of the media always speculating about me, wondering why I didn’t have a relationship, complaining about the ones I had been in, assuming every time I was seen with someone I was dating with them. It does get a little exhausting.”

“I guess that makes sense. . . This might sound a little rude but I don’t know how else to ask it, why don’t you have a relationship.”

“Most people try to date me for personal gain. Money, fame, jobs, whatever it was. I figured, if that’s all most people see me for, why don’t I just _hire_ one person for this and then I won’t have to deal with it from other people until I’m ready.”

“Oh.”

Jon didn’t know how else to respond to that. That was exactly what Damian had done. He was giving Jon a job, money, and some publicity(not that Jon wanted that part of this). Not that Jon was trying to romance Damian or anything. But that was more or less what he was getting paid to appear to be doing.

Damian just smiled softly at him. “You should go get some rest. You have a long drive tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Right. . . Good night, Damian,” Jon said, setting Pennyworth down then looking up at him and smiling.

Damian just smiled a little more. “Good night, Jonathan.”

Jon turned and walked upstairs, packing away his stuff and climbing into bed, only to lay there for a few minutes, answering texts until he just passed out.

The next morning when he woke up, he had a lot of texts. About five of them were from Kathy, after he had fallen asleep, all links to articles about his new relationship. He blearily checked the first one, saw the pictures from their entrance to the gala and immediately clicked out of it. Then he had texts from the family group chat, affectionately titled the “Kent Family Funny Farm.”

_Kon:_

_So who was gonna tell me Jon is dating a billionaire?_

_Or was I just supposed to find out because of Twitter freaking out?_

_Lois:_

_Your brother said he would tell you?_

_Chris:_

_Well he didn’t. I didn’t know either._

_Kon:_

_Hey, Punk! Jon! Answer us!_

  
  


Jon just sighed and set his phone down to roll over and bury his face into the soft pillow. He wasn’t ready to wake up and face the day. He knew what he’d find, social media would be insane, people would be texting him offended all day, plus he had to drive back home for three hours and finish a biology test. It’d be a nightmare. He certainly wasn’t ready. He laid there for nearly five minutes.

Thinking back on last night, it certainly had been fun. It had been like being in a play or something, pretending to be rich for an evening, pretending to be Damian's boyfriend. He met famous people, talked to millionaires, hell he even met some up and coming actors which was super cool and he had to act like he wasn't freaking out because he's "dating" Damian Wayne, he should be used to this. Plus Damian's family had been kinda fun. The eldest, Dick, had clearly taken a liking to him, and was clearly very close to Damian, but the others didn't seem too bothered by him.

Finally his body made him get up because he just really had to pee. So he crawled out of bed and pulled back on his sweatpants before trudging his way to the bathroom. When he got back out, heading back to the guest room so he could grab a hoodie, he heard the front door shutting, so he stopped, looking down over the balcony. Damian was locking the door, bending to unclip a leash from Titus and let the dog go running away to jump on the big sectional sofa. Jon smiled and leaned against the banister, and for the first time he was getting a glimpse of casual Damian.

Damian, hair laying flat as compared to it's usually fluffy blown-out style, was wearing black pants, potentially sweats, and a sweatshirt that proudly declared the name of some school, potentially his high school. He was kicking off sneakers, and had yet to notice Jon as he set his keys on a small table by the door and then turned towards the living room. Only then did he see the man.

"Oh! Good morning!"

"Morning."

"I didn't know you were awake or I would have let you know I was taking Titus out."

"No, you're fine," Jon said with a smile. "I just woke up a little bit ago."

"Ah. I'm glad. Did you sleep well?"

It was a little awkward, talking across the apartment, but here they were.

"Yeah, I did."

"Good. I'm about to start breakfast. Any preferences?"

"Nope. Whatever you can eat."

Damian nodded and turned to walk into the kitchen. Jon watched him for a moment before turning away. He grabbed his phone and hoodie and a pair of socks before heading down, pushing his glasses up to rub his eyes.

"Do you drink coffee?"

"Yeah!"

Damian turned and pulled out a white mug from a cabinet full of white mugs and clear glasses, and Jon felt a stab of sadness for this man who had no personalisation in his drinking containers.

"There's some milk in the fridge if you want that."

Damian was pouring coffee into the cup from one of those fancy manual drip coffee brewing glass containers thingies, and somehow it was still steaming. He set it on the counter, along with a jar of sugar. Jon put a little bit of that and some of the oat milk from the fridge, stirring it and sipping it. The coffee tasted amazing, and the oat milk added an interesting flavor.

"This is really good."

"Thank you." Damian shot him a smile, glancing down at his phone for a moment before beginning to collect ingredients.

"What are you gonna make?" Jon asked, replacing the oat milk and sugar before sitting at the breakfast bar.

He needed to answer texts, but that could wait.

"Vegan belgian waffles."

From a cabinet under the island, Damian produced a belgian waffle maker, plugging it in and then beginning to mix ingredients.

"How long have you been vegan, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Since I was about thirteen. Mother and I went vegan together, Father followed a few years later. My brothers, however, are a little harder to convince."

Jon chuckled. "I couldn't imagine my family ever doing that. I think they'd die."

"Oh?"

"Born and raised farm folk, Mr. Wayne. Daddy was born butchering the cows he raised," Jon said in a bad country accent.

Damian gave him a surprised look and he couldn't help but break out into giggles.

"I'm kidding. But he did milk them. Hell, I grew up milking cows."

Damian hummed, whisking viciously at his batter.

"How do you milk oats, by the way?"

Damian chuckled, glancing back at him and rolling his eyes.

"That's not how it works, it's like coconut water, not like milk."

"I know, I'm joking," Jon said with a laugh, sipping his coffee and finally pulling out his phone.

"Ah, I would avoid Twitter today if I were you."

"Oh, I already know, Kathy linked me like, four articles about us."

Damian hummed. "Well, take everything you read with a grain of salt."

"I usually do."

He did in fact read a few of the articles, or, rather, scanned them. Most were just ogling over Damian's new, pretty boyfriend, but didn't go through the effort of trying to uproot his identity, but the last one actually linked his Twitter. He checked that and found his notifications were absolutely blowing up and he was glad he had muted the app last night before they left. 

"Hmm, I'm your mystery man now apparently," Jon said, glancing up to watch Damian pouring batter into the waffle maker, causing a huge sizzle.

"Even if that were true, you would not stay that way for long."

Jon just chuckled. "These pictures are kind of cute though."

He paused as he came across a set of photos, starting with Damian kissing his cheek, and then showing his nearly immediately blushing.

"You will find them more and more annoying as this goes on."

"Man you're a pessimist, huh?"

"Nihilist, but sure."

". . . Wait, really?"

Damian looked at him with a small smile. "In some ways, yes."

"Huh. . ."

Jon decided to finally bite the bullet and text his brother.

_Yeah. It's a new development._

_You two would know if you hadn't moved to MO/KS_

  
  


Then he set down his phone and looked around Damian's apartment a little better. Everything was so neat. There were quite a few plants, and over by the windows, tucked into a corner, was this cute little table with lots of different pots and jars and things full of plants. It took Jon a moment to realize they were herbs. Underneath the table was a black metal box looking thing.

They spent the next ten minutes idly chatting as they waited for breakfast. It should have been awkward, after all they barely knew each other and they were pretending to date, but it wasn't. It was kinda nice, like catching up with an old friend, almost. Pennyworth came over at some point and hopped up to sit in Jon's lap, purring softly as he got stroked along the side.

Damian eventually set a plate with a gorgeous looking Belgian waffle on it in front of him, setting a glass jar of maple syrup down next. He got himself another cup of coffee and then sat next to Jon, beginning to eat, his phone on the other side of the room. It was interesting, in all the time they spent together, Damian only touched his phone if he had too. He was nothing like Jon, who was looking at Facebook even now as he munched away on this divine waffle.

"Holy shit this is good," he muttered around his food, looking over at Damian, who looked a little lost in thought.

"Hmm? Oh. I'm glad," Damian said with a small smile, glancing at him, then away, out the window.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm quite fine. Just thinking. I'm not exactly used to having company."

"Oh. . . Do you want me to be quiet or something."

"No. Not at all."

Jon nodded a bit, setting down his phone and focusing on eating. 

"Well. . . Do you want help with dishes or something?" Jon asked, setting his fork down once he was done.

"No, I don't do them until the evening, but thank you for offering, you can just put those in the sink."

Jon nodded and stood, placing his plate and fork in the stainless steel sink, and finishing his coffee before setting it down beside it.

"If you'd like to watch TV or something, feel free," Damian said, motioning back towards it.

"Uh, maybe, but I kinda wanted to check out your balcony?"

"Feel free, just lock the door when you come back in. Titus has a habit of opening it."

Jon chuckled a bit at the thought but walked over, finding the lock and stepping out, making sure to firmly close it behind him. The view from the balcony was really nice. Good city skyline. He stayed out there for a few minutes before heading back inside, making sure to lock the door) and then heading upstairs to pack all his things up and also brush his teeth. By the time he was done with all that, it was only 9:30. He could leave now, but he also kinda didn't want to.

So he went back downstairs and settled on the sofa, just watching tiktok on his phone. After a bit, Damian reappeared, now dressed in jeans and a sweater. They looked at each other and exchanged a smile before Damian walked over, shooing Titus off the sofa and then sitting right in the corner of the sectional, producing one of those fancy Wayne tablets from under the coffee table. This time the silence was a little awkward, especially since Jon felt like he had to turn off his audio to not interrupt Damian.

"Do you want to get lunch before you leave?" Damian asked randomly, after twenty minutes of silence.

"Oh uh. . . I mean, I guess. Nowhere too fancy, though?"

"Sure, we can just order takeout."

Jon shot him an approving smile, Damian nodded in satisfaction and then looked back down at his tablet. An hour later they ordered some mediterranean takeout, and sat at the table to eat.

“Do you think we should post some pictures?” Jon asked randomly, as he was staring at his plate, his mostly eaten pita pocket of falafel in hand. 

Damian gave a questioning hum. He didn’t seem to speak at all if what was needed said could be communicated through hums or grunts.

“Well, that’s what like, real couples would do right? Like post photos of last night with some sappy caption or something?”

“Oh, Yes. Hold on.”

Damian picked his phone up from the table and went silent, typing away at it. Damian just waited. Then his phone vibrated. And not thirty seconds later, Jon’s phone went off with his peppy ringtone. He frowned and looked at it to see a text from Damian. He pulled it up to see it was a picture, this one clearly was not professional, but it was a photo of them, standing against the wall, heads together as they whispered to each other, clearly looking at someone in the crowd. No sooner had that photo come in, then another one followed, this one them in the same position, but they were just looking at each other, Jon smiling as Damian was speaking.

“Whoa, who took these?”

“Timothy. He has a knack for capturing candid moments.”

A few more pictures came through, these ones looked like ones he had gotten from some professional photographer. They spent the next ten minutes discussing and deciding which photos either of them would post, and then captions and filters and editing. Jon was not half assing this, okay? If he was fake dating a billionaire, he was gonna do it right. He had ended up unprivating his instagram(he would make an actual private side account later to give to his close friends and family), and had muted nearly all notifications from the app for a few days. So he posted his “look at my cute boyfriend” photos and then stood to put away his dishes.

“I think I’m going to go ahead and go.”

“Ah. Okay. Don’t forget your things from upstairs.”

“Right!”

Jon turned and jogged upstairs, using the bathroom quickly before grabbing his backpack and suit from the guest bedroom. He slipped on the pair of sneakers he had packed and then headed down after making sure he had his keys. He quickly said goodbye to Damian’s pets and then turned to the man himself, who was drying his hands.

“Well. I’ll see you around, I’d guess?”

Damian smiled slightly. “Indeed you will. Thank you, again, Jonathan, for doing this.”

“Yeah. I kinda feel like I should be thanking you, but sure.”

Damian hummed. “You still need to give me your bank information.”

“Oh. Right. I’ll. . . I’ll do that,” Jon promised, smiling. 

“And I’ll let you know what events I’ll need you for, this next month.”

“Okey dokey! Bye Damian!”

“Bye Jon, drive safe!”

Jon stepped out the door, closing it firmly behind him, before heading to the parking garage to begin his drive back home.

He barely got through the entryway of the farmhouse before Lois had accosted him with hugs.

“Come on! Come in! Tell us all about it!”

Jon sighed, setting down his bags. His biology exam could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "... Hey Korey.... Sugar Daddy Au...."  
> And with those fateful words, my month would be consumed by writing this crack fic story. So thanks for that, Con.  
> Yes I did gift this to you because this was your fault, and who else do I blame for you. So congratulations.
> 
> A'ight so! I'm sure you're thinking, Wow this is long, but it's clearly not finished!  
> And you're right. On both.  
> There are two more "Chapters" but i call them parts, because they will be fairly lengthy, like this Part one, but I'm just putting them all in one story to make it easier to find.   
> So you'll get part 2 once it's finished, and then Part 3 after that!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Moment by Moment

“This is what, your fourth event with him in a month?”

“Well, I am his boyfriend, Billy.”

“I know, but _still._ Where are you even going this time?”

Jon glanced over at his laptop, which was displaying his video chat with his friend Billy Batson. Billy was just a few years older than him, but the amount of times people had joked that they were twins was frankly rather annoying. Billy gasped suddenly, and frankly, rather randomly.

“Is he taking you to the MET gala?”

“What? Why would he take me to the MET?”

“I don’t know, why wouldn’t he?”

Jon just rolled his eyes, shoving a few more pairs of socks into his suitcase.

“No, he’s not taking me to the MET. We’re going to New York. He has some fancy business meeting all day Friday, and then Saturday we’re going to go shopping so he can buy me _more_ clothes and then we’re gonna go get dinner at some fancy expensive restaurant and we’re gonna go to broadway.”

Billy snorted in annoyance. “I can’t believe you. How come you get to date the hot billionaire? I’m a perfectly eligible bachelor!”

“Hmm, you just don’t have the right connections,” Jon told him, pausing to scowl at his closet. He and Damian had planned out their outfits for their evening events, but Damian had left it up to him to pick his day wear.

“So . . . you haven’t been very forthcoming with the details of this relationship, Jonno. Have you two boned yet?”

Jon felt a stab of guilt as he remembered that Billy didn’t know about the truth of this relationship. He didn’t know that it was fake. Jon loved Billy, but the guy had a habit of running his mouth, so Jon and Kathy had agreed it was best if he didn’t know.

“None of your business, Batson.”

“Oh so you have.”

“Pftt, shut up, man!”

“Oooh, somebody is embarrassed! It’s okay, if I was gay and found myself in the position of dating Damian Wayne, I too would tap that.”

Jon rolled his eyes, carefully folding a nice shirt, setting it inside his suitcase along with a pair of pants he styled with it.

“Listen, it’s just, he’s pretty private with personal information. Like, I haven’t even met his mom yet.”

“And you’ve been dating for nearly a month?”

“Yeah. And I guess to be fair, his mom was in Australia for a while, but she got back like last week and I still haven’t met her.”

“Are they . . . close?”

Billy was crunching something, and Jon looked up to see him shoving doritos in his mouth.

“Ew, could you be anymore straight?”

“Probably not. Answer the question, Kent.”

“I mean, I guess?” Jon shrugged and looked at the camera. Stop revealing so much about your fake boyfriend, Kent. “He talks about her a lot? And they text all the time and stuff. But I dunno.”

Billy made a huh noise, looking at his phone. “Weird. Maybe he’s just worried how she’ll react to you.”

“Maybe. . . “ Jon sighed softly and turned to look at his closet again.

It had been four weeks since the start of his job with Damian. And honestly? It hadn’t been that bad. Sure there had been a bit of online bullying, but Jon was never really bothered by that stuff, he knew when to turn a cold shoulder and ignore things being said. Outside of going to rich people events with Damian and occasionally posting a thing or two on social media about him, it was really like nothing had changed. He still went to college, did his schoolwork, went home, did homework, slept, ate junk food, did more homework, cried a bit, slept at one am, so on and so forth. The only difference in his everyday life was in how people treated him. Teachers gave him a little more leniency, other kids his age treated him with more respect, random strangers kissed up to him.

Honestly he wasn’t mad about it.

When he had first gotten paid, a few days after the first gala, he had immediately used that to pay off student fees he had left. Most of what was left stayed in savings, but he had taken a percentage of it, and taken Kathy out for dinner(and a movie), as well as his parents, and bought Billy a nice surprise gift. He figured he owed all of them for the amounts of money they had spent on him. And he had just recently gotten paid for May, so he was really just living the high life. It was weird, actually having money. He was saving most of it for the next year of college, but hey, he could spoil himself and his friends a little, couldn’t he?

The actual situation with Damian wasn’t actually that bad. They were pretty friendly. It’s not like they were actually friends yet, they didn’t talk outside of when they needed to communicate for “work”, or the occasional text after some media thing had blown up, or when Jon was actually with Damian. But when they were together, they got along pretty well, and Jon actually did enjoy Damians company a lot. Plus he adored the man’s pets.

“And when am I gonna meet mystery man lover?"

“He’s not a mystery, and I don’t know. Do you have to meet my boyfriend?”

“I’ve facetime met every other one up until now, why is Damian the exception? He can actually fly you up here to see me.”

“Because, like I said, Damian is a private guy. He hasn’t even officially met my parents yet.”

“Seems a little fishy.”

“Oh stop!” Jon said with a laugh. “He’s a good guy. Like a, feeds stray dogs and goes to environmental rallies and works at food pantries and lives a zero waste life and stuff.”

“Uh huh. . . .”

“I hate you,” Jon laughed out, shaking his head. He turned and pulled another outfit from his closet and looking at it for a moment.

“I don’t understand why this is so difficult for you,” Billy told him, leaning forwards towards the camera. “Just grab some jeans and a t-shirt dude.”

Jon sighed. “That’s not how this works, Billy. Whatever outfit I pick, I’m a walking advertisement. I grab the gucci shirt? Gucci ad. Wear the Balenciaga jacket? Balenciaga ad. Wear this color block sweater of the designer Damian is friends with? I’m advertising for him. . . actually I think I’m gonna grab this one for saturday. . . “

Bill snorted. “Man, maybe I don’t want to date a rich person.”

“You really don’t, I’ve never been more aware of brands before in my life. I swear to god, I can barely get away with wearing thrift store stuff, just because I’m not actually a billionaire, but I’m walking a fine line.”

Billy just shook his head. Jon pulled out a blue, red and gray asymmetrical color block sweater. He set it on his bed and then went to pull out a pair of dark wash fitted blue jeans, dropping it on the bed next to it. He quickly took a picture and sent it to Damian asking for approval since this was what he was planning to wear for their Saturday out together.

“What are you doing? Getting boyfriend approval?"

“Would you stop mocking me?”

Billy just laughed.

“How are your finals going, brat?” Jon asked, sitting on the bed and pulling the laptop to face him.

Billy and John had actually met when Jon’s family was on vacation in Wisconsin. Jon had gotten lost in a mall and Billy had found him and helped him navigate to find his family. They had ended up swapping contact information and surprisingly became good friends, eventually meeting up again after Billy graduated high school.

“Finals are boring and long and I want to remove my brain egyptian cremation style.”

That got a startled laugh out of Jon and he shot a critical look at Billy.

“Wooowwww,” He said, scoffing and shaking his head.

“What, it’s true. Do you not sympathize?”

“Nope! Haven’t started finals yet. That’s next week.”

“Next week? And you’re going to New York this weekend?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna spend all of Friday studying.”

Billy scoffed. Jon shrugged.

“Listen, I gotta finish packing then Damian’s gonna be here to pick me up in like, two hours. So I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah. Sure. Be safe, get that dick and all that.”

“OOoh my god!"

“Bye! Love you!”

And with that, Billy ended the call. Jon shook his head at the ‘Rate your call!’ pop up and closed out of the application. He quickly threw all his last things in his bag and once he got confirmation of his outfit choice, he packed that too and then headed downstairs. Damian would be getting here before Jon’s parents got back from work, so he just crashed on the sofa and watched _Queer Eye_ for a good hour and a half while studying. He wondered what Karamo would say about his new job as escort.

The knock on the door startled him. He jumped up and ran to get it, finding Damian outside.

“Hey! I didn't expect you to get here so soon!"

Damian was standing outside. He looked like he had just come from a shoot, because while his clothes told him casual chic, black turtleneck sweater and gray pants, the make-up on his face screamed ‘Queer Influencer and Model’. Jon’s attention was immediately drawn to his eyeshadow, a dark and very bold smokey eye with thick fake eyelashes(though Jon had noted in the past that Damian naturally had long eyelashes). His base makeup was heavy in the highlight, and he had the remains of a dark nude lipstick left.

“Well, I got done with my shoot a little sooner than expected, and there wasn’t nearly as much traffic either.”

“You know, you really didn’t have to drive all the way out here,” Jon said, stepping aside to let Damian in.

The billionaire stepped in and looked around the house, humming softly.

“No, but I don’t mind driving."

Jon latched the door shut behind him, then turned to walk into the house.

“Well, welcome to my house, I know it’s nothing fancy, hell it ain’t even as nice as your apartment, but it’s my home.”

Damian looked at him and smiled. “It’s beautiful, Jon. Very cozy and safe. You can almost . . . feel the memories inside this house.”

Jon felt himself grinning at that.

“Well, I can go grab my stuff if you’re ready to go.”

“Whenever you are,” Damian told him, shrugging slightly.

“Okay, well. . . “

Jon turned and walked upstairs, and heard Damian following him. He just led him through the house, lightly explaining a few things as they walked. Damian stopped halfway through the upstairs hallway, stopping to look at a picture.

“Is this you?” He asked, pointing at it.

Jon turned and walked back, stopping next to Damian, lightly bumping their shoulders together accidentally. He squinted at the picture slightly.

“Oh, yeah. So this is me,” He said, pointing to the little boy in Lois’ arms. “Then this is Chris, and my oldest brother, Kon.”

Damian hummed. “Chris is the middle child then?”

“Yup.”

“You have a beautiful family.”

Jon snorted. “Save the flattery for my mom. Those are the same brothers that tried to drown me in my grandparents creek.”

“They did what?!”

Jon turned and walked to his room, pushing the door open and silently thanking the stars that he had thought to pick up earlier this morning, and that all his laundry was safely packed away in the hamper.

“Yeah, I mean. Brother’s are like that. I’m not sure it was fully intentional, but it's fine, they apologized for it."

“Huh,” Damian said, leaning a shoulder into the doorway.

Jon shoved a few things into his school backpack, glancing back at Damian.

“Wait stay there, and like, look happy or something.”

Damian snorted, cocking an eyebrow. Jon pulled out his phone and quickly snapped a photo, then when Damian offered a small smile, looking fond, he snapped another one.

“Okay, well. Is this outfit fine for today?” Jon asked, motioning down at his jeans and t-shirt/flannel combo as he zipped his backpack and threw it over his shoulder, pulling it on and bouncing it slightly to adjust it before turning and picking up his duffel bag.

“Yes, I didn’t have any plans for the evening, I figured we could just go get a light dinner or something. Or I suppose we could order room service.”

“Oh, fancy.”

“Just you wait,” Damian told him with a laugh, turning to lead the way back downstairs.

Jon made sure lights were shut off, locked the door behind him and then got in the car to start driving to New York.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


“Are you sure you’ll be okay here by yourself?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine! I have a tv, I have my school, I have room service, and if I get really bored, I have access to the pool and gym. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. . . please stay inside, though. I know you know that but, New York can be a dangerous place.”

Jon snorted, shaking his head. “I’ll be fine, Damian. Now get. You’re going to be late to your meeting."

Damian narrowed his eyes at him.

“Daamiaan goooo before I get out my phone and start recording this and show the internet a fretful Damian Wayne. It’s sweet, honestly, but I have at least five hours of studying to do today. At least.”

Damian sighed, shaking his head, hands on his hips. It was Friday morning, Damian should have left a couple minutes ago to go down and wait for his Uber, but here he was, standing in the middle of their room, fretting over Jon, like he was actually considering leaving the room without Damian. He was dressed in a nice business suit, versus Jon who had barely bothered to get out of his pajamas yet. This is what happens when you give a man access to room service. He won’t get dressed.

“Damn you’re better at remembering you're supposed to be my boyfriend then I am,” Damian grumbled, then sighed again, turning away to grab his wallet and phone. “Send me a text if you have any issues, I should be back around four, I think? And we’ll need to be leaving for dinner by six at the latest.”

“I’ll be ready, now go!”

Damian sighed and turned, walking out the door, calling out a goodbye right before it slammed shut behind him. Jon just rolled his eyes, waiting a few seconds before rolling onto his side and reaching for his phone.

They had gotten a room in _The Mercer_ . It wasn’t quite a gorgeous hotel, or anything like that, Jon didn’t particularly like the interior design or anything, but he wasn’t paying for it, so he’d keep his mouth shut. Due to the fact that they were pretending to be dating, they had to get just a room with just a single bed, but the _king_ sized bed had allowed plenty of room for the two adults to avoid touching each other during the middle of the night. They had gotten dinner at some diner a few blocks from their hotel last night, and then came back and crashed, watching a movie together before Damian passed out, and then Jon laid in bed looking at his phone in silence for a few hours until he too went to sleep.

He had woken up at 8am this morning when Damian had crawled from bed and disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower. He had lay there and tried to go back to sleep, but mostly just listened to the shower running, thinking about what all he had to do today. He had lay there and listened as Damian came back into the room, grabbed a few things and then disappeared again. He had lay there and tried to not think about how Damian had seemed distressed in his sleep, how he had moved around a bit, not really tossing and turning, but more fidgeting. Maybe the man had a nightmare. Maybe he just twitched in his sleep. Who knows.

Jon sighed and rolled onto his stomach, cramming his pillow underneath him in order to be more comfortable, then went about his daily business of posting things to his instagram story. Technically he was working, posting pictures of the night view outside their window(“didn’t get to post this last night, NYC is gorgeous”) and a boomerang of their little movie night, as well as a selfie(staged) of them laying in bed together. Then he posted one last picture of their breakfast before setting his phone aside and reaching for the tv remote. He really wasn’t ready to start school yet.

He ended up goofing off for nearly an hour before finally getting up, putting in his contacts and sitting down at the desk in the hotel room to study. He didn’t move for the next five hours except to go to the bathroom and around noon when he ordered room service and had to get up to let them in. He did end up stopping around two thirty, watched tv for about an hour, then went and took a shower, only to return to his spot on the bed, boredly typing out the closing of his essay for his literature class as a rerun of some James Bond movie played in the background.

Admittedly the door opening did startle him, just a bit. His head snapped up and he looked towards the little hallway, waiting to see who it was. After a second, Damian walked through, already pulling off his jacket.

“Oh. Hello.”

“Hi,” Jon called back, fingers frozen over the keys.

Damian stood there and looked at him, eyebrow raising. He was wearing a black suit with a black button down, no tie, but the suit jacket had just been dropped on a chair, so now it was just black slacks and a black shirt, which admittedly didn’t look as good as the whole ensemble.

“Sorry I just. . . you threw off my train of thought.”

“Alright,” Damian chuckled out.

He toed off his dress shoes, dumped some stuff on the desk and then came and collapsed on the bed next to Jon, stretching out and staring up at the ceiling.

“Busy day?”

“I’m exhausted.”

“Take a nap. You said we didn’t have to leave until . . . what, six?”

Damian grunted and reached up, rubbing his eyes. “I can’t nap.”

“Really?”

“I never have been able to. Mother said that even as a child it took me forever to fall asleep for naps.”

Jon chuckled. “I’m the opposite, I can sleep pretty much anywhere. I take catnaps all the time. I feel sorry for you. It must be so horrible, having to wait at least twelve hours every day before you can sleep?”

Damian snorted, bumping him with his knee. “I always forget how dramatic you can be.”

“Says you!” Jon laughed again, smacking his knee in return.

“What are you writing?”

“Uh, it’s my final lit report. Had to write an essay on a drama.”

“Oh? What did you pick?”

“Our Town by Thornton Wilder.”

“Never heard of it,” Damian said, sitting up and shifting a little closer to look over Jon’s shoulder at his laptop.

“Yeah, not many people have, but I didn’t want to write a Shakespeare essay because I figured everyone else would likely be doing one of those, so I found a more obscure one.”

“Clever of you.”

“Thanks.”

Jon glanced over and grinned at Damian, who smiled back, moving to sit back against the headboard, looking ahead at the tv.

“Ah, _You Only Live Twice,_ no?”

“You recognized this movie by like, two scenes?” Jon asked, unsure if he should be impressed or concerned, glancing back at Damian, who shrugged.

“My brother Jason had no small obsession with the Sean Connery Bond movies, I probably saw them each two or three times a year for at least 10 years of my life.

“I’m unsure if I should congratulate you or apologize for your loss.”

Damian laughed, a deep clear noise that Jon only got to hear occasionally. He had a fake laugh, and then he had this laugh, this real, beautiful, amazing laugh.

“Well, I think you should apologize, because Tim thoroughly believed that Daniel Craig was the better James Bond so I had those two battling it out constantly.”

Jon reached out, keeping his face solemn as he placed his hand on Damian’s knee. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Damian. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through.”

That got another sharp laugh from Damian, and he shook his head with a smile.

“Do you have a favorite?” Jon asked after he laughed for a bit, looking back at his laptop.

“No, admittedly I do not particularly care. I’m not a huge movie fan. I prefer a good book or a play.”

“Yeah, I’m not terribly surprised, to be honest. You seem like the type of guy you’d catch hanging out at the library or something.”

Damian smiled. “What about you. Do you have a favorite?”

“Bond?” Jon inquired, pausing for a moment. “Pierce Brosnan, undoubtedly. He’s just got that suave, tall dark and handsome thing that Bond is _supposed_ to be. Sean Connery is a close second, though.”

“Hmm, do you like _Mamma Mia_ too then?”

Jon snorted, looking at him. “Only ironically.”

“This sounds like something someone who goes out of his way to turn on _Mamma Mia_ would say.”

“Oh my god, I do not.”

Damian just gave him a smug look and rolled onto his side, reaching for a phone charger. They ended up lapsing into silence until Jon finished his report and shut his laptop, setting it on the bedside table and moving to lay on his stomach, facing the tv still.

“So, what is the plan for tomorrow?”

“I figured we’d sleep in however late we wanted, then get ready and head down to Madison Avenue, there’s quite a few shops there I’d like to stop in at.”

“Can I give you a budget cap?”

“No.”

Jon twisted to scowl at him.

“But if it makes you feel any better, I fully intend to do some shopping for myself too.”

Jon scowled more and shook his head, looking away again. His phone vibrated a few times as he got a couple texts from Kathy.

“Is there anything you need?”

“I don’t need _anything_ , Damian. I’m perfectly happy with the clothes I have now. Hell, half my regular clothes don’t even fit in my closet anymore. I took over Kon’s old room just to have more closet space!”

Damian laughed. “Maybe you need to watch some Marie Kondo, find out what sparks joy.”

“Oh my god. You watch Marie Kondo? I’m not even surprised. Why am I not surprised? Do you watch all the lifestyle shows? And on top of that! You’re the one who caused this issue!”

Damian just laughed at him more.

Dinner that evening was at this cute little restaurant called _Modern_ _Love_ in Brooklyn. Jon had made the mistake of looking up their instagram before they got there, and he was freaking drooling. All their food looks so good. It wasn’t a terribly large restaurant, and wasn’t one he would have expected Damian to pick for a business type dinner, but he supposed it was because of it being a vegan and local restaurant. It occurred to him that in all the times he’d eaten out with Damian, they had never once eaten at a chain restaurant. They got dressed in their evening wear, Jon wearing a dark blue suit with a black t-shirt underneath, Damian simply swapping his black button down for a white one, then they called an Uber and headed to the restaurant.

The dinner itself was painfully boring for Jon, other than the food aspect of it. He sat there and listened to Damian talk to these two men about economics and politics and everything from the color of the sky to the temperature of the earth’s core, and he was honestly fairly bored. But look, he was literally getting paid to be here, the least he could do was seem mildly interested. The good news was the other two people’s dates, one girlfriend, one wife, seemed just as bored as he was, but they were actually on their phones, long fingernails clicking as they typed on the screens. Jon was just here for these vegan enchiladas okay? Well, and the money. But mostly the enchiladas. He had exchanged small talk with the women earlier, and discovered that they were both at least ten years older than him and had absolutely no interest in him. Which was fantastic.

“So, Mr. Kent.”

Uh-oh. You’re being talked to, Jonno, get your head out of the clouds and pay attention to what’s going on around you. Jon blinked, looking over at Businessman #1 Who’s Name He Did Not Remember, a fork full of enchiladas freshly plopped into his mouth. Why do people do that? Talk to you the second you’ve put food in your mouth. It’s just rude. Like, let me eat in peace damnit.

“Obviously we know what Damian here does, but what about you? Are you a reporter like your parents?”

“Oh, Uh,” Jon cleared his throat, sipping the sweet tea he had ordered. “I’m a radiology tech student.”

They blinked at him, then Damian.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh. Well, that’s neat I guess.”

Jon shrugged, looking back down at his plate. Then Damian’s hand was on the back of his chair and he was leaning over to whisper in his ear.

“If you want to leave, just tell me and I’ll wrap this up,” he murmured softly.

His breath tickled Jon’s ear and his neck.

“Okay,” he whispered back, willing to leave it at that.

“Do you want dessert?”

“Oh god, please,” Jon said, much louder, drawing an odd look from their company.

Damian chuckled, lightly kissing Jon’s temple as a show of affection, before sitting back in his seat properly, looking around and then waving down their server.

“We would like to order dessert,” Damian explained.

Once they had all ordered their deserts, Damian pushed what little was left of his food towards Jon. He had either gotten full, or too caught up in his conversations to finish it. Jon, however, happily did. Listen, he was a farm boy. He ate big meals, and he’d probably raid the snackbar in their room later anyway, or go find a vending machine or something. He needed big meals. One of the two women, the older one, shot him a look but he just grinned back as he finished off Damian’s chickpea salad thing. It was good, but not quite something he would have picked on his own.

After desert, they only stayed for a little bit longer, as it was getting pretty late, then the tired “boyfriends” caught an uber and stumbled back to their hotel. Damian was clearly about to doze off at any moment, so Jon kept a careful eye on him as they walked up to the elevators, then up to their room. It’s not that he was worried Damian was just going to topple over. . . but. . . He was worried Damian was just going to topple over. Luckily the billionaire got up to their room, snagged clothes and stumbled into the bathroom to change. Jon just quickly switched clothes while he was in there.

“I’m going to bed, good night,” Damian mumbled when he came out, heading to bed and crawling into it, pulling the thick white duvet up to his chin.

“Okay, do you want me to shut off the light?”

“No. Stay up if you want to,” was the soft response.

So Jon did, because Damian actually fell asleep within minutes of laying down. Jon just chuckled and shook his head and pulled up his laptop, sitting at the desk to work, plugging in earbuds so it wasn’t quite as awkward, having a sleeping human just a few feet away from him. Eventually he too crawled into bed to sleep, keeping well on his side of the bed  
  


Saturday was a flurry of shopping, food, rich people things, more money then Jon would ever see again in his life all going into trivial things like clothes and shoes and accessories. He was really going to have to draw the line with Damian. They got more rich people food in the evening, and then saw _Beetlejuice_ on Broadway. They got back into their hotel at eleven pm, and Damian stood there in the middle of the room for five minutes before looking at Jon.

"I think I would like to go sit in the hot tub. Would you like to come?"

Jon didn't hesitate, just turned and pulled out the swim trunks he had oh so wisely grabbed.

"Do you even need to ask?"

They changed, carefully hanging up their evening clothes, grabbed some towels and trekked down to the pool, getting in the hot tub, five feet apart. . . But not because they're not gay- because that's what normal humans do when you're trying to find the best jets in a hot tub. Well, that and sitting next to a shirtless Damian didn't exactly seem like the best idea. Damian was unfairly muscular, gorgeous honey skin stretched over defined muscles, and Jon was once again reminded just how gay he was.

This isn't to say Jon isn't also muscular. He is, he works out a couple times a week, and he has naturally toned arms from working on the farm, but he was nothing next to Damian. Or maybe that's just because this is his body, and he wasn't exactly the fondest of it.

They stayed down there for a long time, Damian was so quiet that Jon actually started worrying he had fallen asleep. Falling asleep in hot tubs was a bad idea, Jon knew this from Sims, that's how you drown. But randomly, he opened his eyes and looked around, then spoke.

"We haven't talked much," he said softly.

"Yeah, which is hilarious, all things considered."

Damian smiled softly, turning in his seat to look at Jon.

"You're lgbtq, no?"

"Yeah, I'm gay. I mean, I'm pretending to date you so I kinda thought that was obvious."

"Well, the pride pins on your school bag did tip me off, but I wasn't for certain."

Jon chuckled a bit. "I know you're queer, judging by the all the campaigns you've done."

"I'm Demisexual, actually."

Woah what.

Jon snapped his head over to look at Damian, a little surprised by this.

"Biromantic, though." Damian paused, meeting Jon's eyes. "Does this surprise you?"

"I dunno, I guess I just didn't even think about it…."

"I'm not particularly open about it, so there would have been no reason for you to even question it."

Jon looked down at the water, watching the way it moved due to the jets.

"That is another reason why I didn't have a boyfriend," Damian added, still looking at him, probably judging his reaction.

"Huh . . . Well, thank you for telling me! I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to do so!" Jon said after a pause, turning to look at Damian with a smile.

Damian smiled back softly. "Well, I do trust my friends an awful lot, it seems."

Friends? Wait, really?! Wait, play it cool, Kent, don't seem that eager for his validation.

"Oh? Have I advanced from fake boyfriend to friend now?"

Damian chuckled, sinking into the water a little more.

"It appears you have."

". . . I'm glad," Jon told him, grinning wider at him.

Damian just smiled back and then looked forwards again, closing his eyes. Jon watched him for a bit then he too relaxed into the tub, letting the warm jets relax his back muscles. Yeah, he was definitely okay with being friends.

That night he went to bed, sleepy and content, curling up on his side of the bed and falling into the peaceful darkness of sleep so quickly.  
  


The next morning, they packed up, ate breakfast and then started driving back home. Damian had agreed to eating lunch with the Kent's. It wasn't technically a 'Meet the Parents' as they weren't actually dating, and Damian had known Jon's parents longer than he had known Jon himself. But they still wanted to have lunch with him, and Jon was pretty sure he would cry if they tried anything. He didn't need a "Better not hurt our baby boy, even though he's technically your escort now" talk. He would just yeet himself off the roof if they did that.

The drive was nice, they chatted, shared favorite music, stopped to get coffee at one point, Jon read for a while. Damian never once complained about driving, just cruised along in his Maserati, with his Ray Ban's and expert driving.

When they got to Jon's house, Damian helped him carry bags up, since he had a couple shopping bags and not enough hands for them. He could instantly smell food, but wasn't sure what, just glanced back at Damian and grinned as the man swung the inside wood door shut.

"Mom!"

"Oh! Jon, honey! Welcome back!"

Jon went and set his stuff on the stairs before going to the kitchen and getting hugged quickly by Lois, who was busy aggressively stirring a sauce. She looked frazzled.

"Whoa what's up with you?" Jon laughed out, stepping back as she returned to the stove.

"Well, I'm making this vegan dish I've never made before and I wildly miscalculated how long it would take and-" Lois cut off as she had to reach to grab something.

Jon just looked at Damian and then shrugged.

“What is it?”

“Sweet and sour cauliflower, instead of sweet and sour chicken.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Hi Damian!”

“Hello, Ms. Lane,” Damian greeted, leaning a shoulder into the wall.

“How was your trip?”

“Oh, I think it was good,” Damian said, glancing at Jon for confirmation.

“Yeah. It was fun, though someone went and bought me new clothes again.”

“Oh god, do you even have room for that?”

“No!” Jon shot Damian an accusatory look.

Damian just shrugged. “Well, this time I caved to his deep love for thrift stores and took him to a few vintage shops.”

“Oh well, that’s nice of you. How was broadway?”

“Oh my god it was so fun! Beetlejuice was funny, but weird.”

“Good! I’m glad. I’ve been able to go a few times and it’s nothing like any other theatre experience I’ve had.”

“Oh! Jonno there are you!”

Jon turned and immediately got yanked into the chest of his father.

“Oh, Hi dad!”

Clark chuckled, ruffling his hair, then turning to Damian. “Damian!”

“Mr. Kent.”

They shook hands, and Jon was having this distinct feeling that this was actually a “Meet the Parents” moment and he didn’t quite know why. They stood in the kitchen and chatted for a bit about New York while Lois worked on the food. Eventually Jon and Damian went to get the last few bags from Damian’s car, and Damian had been intending to help Jon take them upstairs, but Clark had spotted his car and immediately pulled him into a conversation about it. So Jon grabbed the bags from him and took them upstairs, starting to put things away.

"So it appears there _is_ a difference between Reporter Clark Kent and Father Clark Kent."

Jon turned to look back at Damian, who was stood in the doorway, arms crossed, one shoulder against the doorframe.

"Oh no. What did he say?"

"Oh he just wanted reassured that there wasn't anything fishy going on."

"Fishy?"

"His words, not mine. And between us, I mean. Well, specifically with me."

Jon snorted, pulling the tags off a shirt and tossing it in his laundry hamper.

"Did you get the dad all clear?"

"Perhaps. I didn't get ordered to get in my car and drive away, so I think I'm okay for now."

This got another laugh from Jon, and he turned to look at Damian, who came over to assist him in removing tags, sitting on the edge of the bed. They worked in silence for a bit.

"What's next again?" Jon asked, glancing over as he hung up a shirt.

"Martha Wayne Foundation gala in two weeks."

"Wow really, nothing this weekend?"

"No, luckily. You'll get nearly two weeks away from me."

"Oh shut up, you're not that bad."

"That bad? That implies that I am a little bad."

"Well the buying clothes every time we see each other is a _little_ unbearable, and maybe you're a _little_ ummmm, how do I say-"

"Stuck up?"

"Your words, not mine," Jon told him with a grin.

Damian just chuckled, pulling out a jewelry box and standing so he could walk and set it on Jon's dresser.

"Fine, fine, no more buying clothes."

"Oh thank g-"

"Unless it's for a specific event."

"Oh my God, you're horrible!"

They both busted out laughing at that, grinning at each other.

"Lunch is ready!" Jon could just barely hear the shout from downstairs.

"Oh, that's our cue," he said, setting down the shirt he had just picked up.

They made their way downstairs, Jon leading the way. They had no sooner entered the kitchen then Lois was shoving empty bowls in their hands and shoving them towards the stove to get food. Jon just shrugged and dumped some rice, and the cauliflower stir-fry into his bowl, snagging a fork and then going to the dining room.

"Damian, what do you want to drink?" He asked, as he passed the man in the doorway.

"Just water please."

Jon got Damian a water and himself a glass of sweet tea. Once everyone had sat down to eat and had sung the praises of Lois and her amazing cooking, Jon found himself falling into a similar situation as Friday night, listening to Damian and his father discuss business and then Lois and Damian discuss his family and current celebrity gossip and he was just there. It's not like he couldn't participate in the conversation, more that he just didn't have much interest in doing so.

"So are you ready for finals tomorrow?" Lois asked randomly, looking over at him.

Clark and Damian were busy discussing environmental conservation.

"Not at all, but I'll be so glad to get it over with."

Lois chuckled. "I remember that feeling. What time is your first final tomorrow?"

"Eleven."

Lois nodded, considering this.

"Do you want me to send you a text in the morning to make sure you're up in time?"

"If you want? It's not like I've slept through class before without being sick."

"That's true. I probably will anyway," Lois decided after a moment, quickly finishing her food.

"Do you want help cleaning up?"

"Hm? Oh, sure, aren't you going to hang out with him?"

"No, he and dad are probably just gonna talk business for the next hour."

As he said this, Jon reached out and took Damian's bowl, the man barely glanced up, offering a smile and a nod to show that he was okay with Jon taking his bowl. Lois grabbed Clark's and followed him to the kitchen. He started putting dishes in the dishwasher, while Lois put up the leftover food.

"So really, how was your trip? Anything you didn't tell us?"

"Naw, I mean. I just sat in the hotel on Friday, then we went to this really nice vegan restaurant with his business friends. That was pretty boring, but the food was so good."

"Really? Why was it boring?"

"Because I'm a radiology major, not a businessman," Jon told her with a laugh. "It was so weird. Like, it was like how those two are now, but somehow worse."

Lois laughed, shaking her head, putting a bowl in the fridge.

"Any . . . _interesting_ developments?"

Jon scowled, looking over at her, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh nothing nothing," she said, shaking her head. But she was grinning. A very suspicious grin.

"Mom."

"Nope, forget I asked."

"Mom!"

"Fine! Fine! I was just wondering if there had been any developments between you two. . . Ya know, relationship changes you should tell your mother?"

Jon's mouth fell open, and his cheeks started getting hot. He shook his head viciously.

"No! Nononono," he insisted rapidly, waving his hands. "No. We're friends. Just friends."

"Well, not just friends, after all he is paying you to pretend to date him."

"Yeah, but other than that, we're just friends."

Lois hummed, sounding unconvinced. "Alright, but if anything does change, either way, you promise to let me know."

"Yes, mom, I'll tell you."

"Good lad."

Jon just shook his head at her. They were friends, genuinely, and not in a "I'm denying having the gay for a boy". They were actually just friends. 

* * *

  
  


"Ah, Jonathan, come on in!"

Jon smiled and stepped through the door, immediately getting mugged by Titus. He looked up at Damian, having crouched to pet the dog after setting down the hangars of clothes he was carrying.

"Hi," he greeted, watching Damian click the front door shut as Titus aggressively licked his cheek.

"That's gross, Titus, quit."

"Awwwn, don't be mean to him, Damian. He's just a big baby with a lot of love to give!"

"He's a dog who licks his own butt and eats cat poop, Jonathan. It's gross."

Jon frowned, looking at the dog who was already panting heavily.

"Okay, you do have a point there."

He stood up, slipping his bag off and setting it down by the door, turning to Damian fully.

"How are you?" He asked, stepping in and lightly hugging him.

Damian, surprisingly, returned it, chin on Jon's shoulder. They had started hugging a lot more recently. Not nearly as much as Jon hugged his other friends, but a lot for when they weren't acting for a camera.

"I am doing very well. You?" Damian asked, picking up Jon's dropped hang up clothes and brushing some dog hair off of them.

"I'm great. I'm so stoked to be done with finals."

Damian cracked a smile. "You've been done for a week or two now, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah, but still. It's weird being free, even just for the summer."

"Hmm, do you have any plans for the summer?"

"Naw, I mean, I figured I'd be spending most of it with my boyfriend," Jon told him with a shit eating grin.

Damian just snorted and rolled his eyes, turning to walk upstairs. Jon picked up his bag and followed.

"Seriously though, do we have any plans?"

"Oh, I have a few various events I've been invited to, I'll try to remember to email you a calendar."

"Okay, sounds good. I might be going camping with Kathy at some point."

"Good to know."

They entered the guest bedroom that was steadily just becoming Jon's room, and Damian quickly hung up his clothes, while Jon set his bag on the bed and dug out a few things. He had gotten used to spending nights with Damian by now. It was getting to the point that he was considering just leaving some stuff here, because it felt like he was up in Gotham almost every week. Which, in reality, he was. There had been a only few weeks since the start of their agreement that he wasn't up in Gotham for at least a night.

This weekend, however, there wasn't any social events. Jon was just coming down to hang out with Damian, go on a "date" and then spend some time on Sunday with Damian's family. And he was going to finally meet his mom.

He was a little nervous.

It was fine.

He had gotten there just after lunch (he had stopped and grabbed a cheeseburger on his way). So with nothing to really do, they found themselves downstairs, trying to pick a movie to watch, as Jon sat on the floor, cuddling with Titus.

"What about horror?"

"At 12:57pm? I think not. If you want to watch horror movies, we must save them for an appropriate time."

"Oh, like what? 7pm?"

"No, that's too early."

"Well, it can't be much later, Mr. Passes Out at 9pm."

Damian snorted, shifting to look at Jon. He was dressed in loungewear, sweats and a t-shirt, a zip up hoodie was somewhere nearby, but had recently been discarded.

"I don't generally go to bed that early."

"Really? Because that's the average time you go to bed when I'm here."

"I take sleeping medicine that require me to sleep rather long to be able to wake up properly."

"Oh."

"Yes," Damian said, then moved on smoothly. "What about an action movie?"

"Oh, it depends what type. Superhero, spy, fantasy, like what are you thinking?"

Five minutes later they had finally agreed on _The Martian_ , starting it playing, but Damian got up and went to the kitchen to get tea. Jon just stayed on the floor, stroking Titus' side, feeling his short hair run underneath his palm. Damian came and sat back down, curled up on the other side of the sofa. He produced a sketchbook at some point, and Jon listened to the soft scratching noise of his pencil against the paper. It was really relaxing.

They got ready and went out for dinner at this fancy Gotham diner around six. They chatted and laughed and just had a good time. And honestly, Jon forgot he was pretending to date Damian. He honestly was just hanging out with a friend, getting to know him a bit better. He went out to dinner with Kathy all the time, it wasn't any different with Damian.

After dinner, they went back to the apartment, only to get Titus and take him for a long walk down to the nearest park. It was quite amusing, watching the Great Dane bound around the dog park, chewing on sticks and sniffing other, significantly smaller dogs. That evening they ended up playing card games, because why not, and Jon absolutely smoked Damian at Slap Jack. Both were in stitches from laughter after.

The next morning Jon was, surprisingly, awake first. He slipped into the bathroom and took a shower, before pulling on his clothes for the day. Nice jeans, and a dark red oversized turtleneck sweater. Listen, he might have a bunch of really nice clothes, that he does actually really like, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to forgo his entire wardrobe that he himself bought and that he also really likes. Then he made his way downstairs. It was rare that he was the first one awake, but he set about making some of the very few vegan breakfasts he knew how to make. Today was crepes. He had also learned how to make coffee with Damian’s fancy eco friendly coffee maker, so he started the water boiling for that. Neither of the pets had shown yet, as they apparently tended to stay in Damian’s room at night. Either that or Damian always took them with him to keep them from bothering Jon. He wasn’t sure which yet.

He was just about done with the crepes, and was in the process of slicing fruit for the filling when he heard the clattering of claws on hardwood and looked up to see Titus running down the stairs before coming barreling over.

“Well good morning, Titus!” Jon said with a laugh, reaching down and petting his head before looking up to find Damian stepping out of his room, nudging Pennyworth out before shutting the door behind him.

It occurred to Jon that he had never actually seen inside Damian’s bedroom.

“Oh. You’re. . . “ Damian fell silent, looking across the apartment at him. Jon grinned, waving.

“I made breakfast!”

The older man headed down the stairs, walking closer, eyeing the food he had made.

“It’s vegan,” Jon reassured.

Damian’s critical face immediately softened, and he smiled. “Thank you, Jonathan.”

“You know you can just call me Jon, right, Mr. Cowlick?”

“What?”

Jon reached out, poking Damian’s scalp right in a spot where his hair had been pushed away to create a hole in his usually poofy hair. Damian’s cheeks went dark.

“Oh. Well . . . I did just wake up,” he mumbled, voice deeper than usual, and to emphasize this point, he reached up and rubbed his eyes, yawning slightly.

“Well, coffee is pretty much ready.”

“Hmm, amazing.”

Jon watched him shuffle over to grab a mug and pour himself a cup, walking away without putting any sweetener in it. He went and sat at the breakfast bar, staring at the counter like he was still mostly out of it. Jon recalled what he said about his medicine and decided to mind his own business, turning away to finish his crepes.

“Have you been up long?”

“Well, I’ve been awake for an hour, but I’ve only been physically up for about forty minutes.”

Damian hummed again. Jon slid the last crepe onto a plate, then rinsed the pan out quickly before leaving it in the sink. He turned to return to his chopping of strawberries. 

“Do you want anything else for the filling?”

“Do you have bananas?”

“No but I can cut some up quickly.”

“There’s some over there, and the chocolate sauce would be good with these.”

Jon nodded, and after a little more work, he had two plates of filled crepes ready for both of them. Strawberry chocolate for him, Strawberry Banana for Damian. They sat next to each other and ate silently.

“When do you want to leave?"

“Oh in an hour or so. I need to shower and get ready, and I still need to walk Titus.”

Jon nodded, standing and collecting Damian’s dirty dishes, stacking them in the sink before turning to face the man who had stood and was moving to put on shoes.

“I’ll be back in a bit,” he said, whistling to Titus.

The dog came over, Damian clipped his leash on, grabbed the small dog bag and then slipped out the door, leaving Jon alone in the apartment. Well, alone with Pennyworth, who he gladly scooped up and curled up on the sofa with, letting the cat dig his claws into his legs as he happily purred. He sat there and got caught up on the current twitter drama, which today was apparently some author said something insensitive and their fans were now blowing up at them about it. He didn’t get involved, he had enough of his own drama. Being involved with the Wayne’s was all fun and games until one of them got involved with something and now suddenly the whole family was involved, and this family was _huge_. There were kids that Bruce had fostered that were still technically part of the Wayne family, according to the internet, and Jon had yet to meet even half of them.

Once Damian was ready, they got in the car with Titus and started driving. They were out of Gotham by the time Damian started talking.

“Not all of my siblings will be there today,” Damian explained. “This is mostly just because Mother wished to meet you.

“Okay, cool,” Jon told him, smiling, but apparently Damian wasn’t done.

“I do believe Jason and Tim are the only ones who will be present, but Stephanie may show up just to contradict me, she has that skill. You’ve met Jason and Tim before, no?”

“I think so. Probably. It seems likely.”

Damian nodded, and continued driving. From the back seat, Titus stuck his big drooly head between them to look out the front window and they both cried out in protest.

When they got to the manor, the gate slid open for them, and Jon leaned forwards, gaping at the huge house.

"Holy shit, you grew up _here?!"_

"Well, partially," Damian explained. "But I also spent part of my childhood in Hong Kong, then in Switzerland for a few years. But yes, from about eight until 20, I lived here."

"Wow," Jon breathed out. "God, you've done so much traveling, huh?"

Damian smiled, glancing over at him as he parked to the side of a roundabout, around a small garden. He shut off the car and looked at Jon fully, but didn't say anything.

"What?" Jon asked with a laugh, looking over at him.

"Nothing."

Damian reached out, pushing some of Jon's curls back into place before turning and getting out of the car. Jon watched him for a moment before looking up at Titus, who was clearly ready to be out of the car. Damian flipped up the seat, and the huge dog easily jumped out, going running for the door.

What was that?

You know what, don't focus on it, Kent. We don't need distracting thoughts. Just get out of the car.

Jon got out, shutting the door firmly behind him, adjusting his sweater before shoving his hands in his pockets and following Damian up to the front door. Damian whistled for Titus and after a moment the dog came bounding back over. Jon watched as he selected a key off the car keyring, slotted it into the lock, then opened the door. Titus went careening in, barking loudly.

"Welcome to the Stately Wayne Manor," Damian told Jon, giving a little bow as he held the door open for him.

"Why thank you, kind sir."

"If you wouldn't mind removing your shoes."

Jon made a little 'oh' noise, then kicked off his shoes, leaving them next to Damian's, and hurrying to follow him into the house, leaving the huge foyer and stairway area they had walked into. Damian had pulled out his phone and was calling someone as he walked into a small hallway.

"Hello, Father. . . Yes, we're here. Where are you?" Damian paused, looking back at Jon as he stopped. "Okay. . . Why are you in _there?"_

Jon made a confused face and Damian just waved his hand dismissively.

"Fine, where's the others? . . . Well, because you _live_ here, and I do not. Tt, fine. We'll be there in a minute."

Damian hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing. Come along."

They walked through the mansion, taking a few turns of hallways, before coming to an open door, voices and laughter coming from inside. Damian hesitated, glancing at Jon. 

"Kent, what is your opinion on polyamory?"

"Uh. . ." Jon tilted his head, confused. Why would Damian be asking this. "Cool for them? It's not my thing but, I don't judge? Why?"

"It's no matter. You'll find out."

With that, Damian turned and walked into the room. Jon stared after him for a moment before following. It was incredibly clear that they had just entered an art room, judging from the various shelves of paints, the giant easels, the pedestal with stage lights, and the pottery wheel off in one corner. Sitting in a chair with some of the stage lights in them, was Bruce Wayne, with a woman with short black hair in his lap, they were the ones laughing, her face pressed into his neck as she giggled. Behind an easel, sat on a stool, was another woman, and Jon immediately knew this was Damian's mother.

"Damian!" The woman in Bruce's lap cried out, jumping up quickly.

"Selina!" The other woman complained, before sighing and setting down her pencil.

Jon sidestepped just in time as the first woman rushed over and hugged Damian tightly. She was a good five or six inches shorter than him, and tiny. Like, she looked like someone like Bruce would break her by hugging her too hard. Damian just chuckled and hugged her back.

"Hello, Selina."

Jon didn't miss the side glance he got from Damian, but he kept his mouth shut and stood awkwardly to the side.

"God it's been so long since I've seen you. Is it possible you've gotten more handsome?! Shit, I remember when you barely reached my hip!" The woman, Selina, was saying, now holding Damian at arm's length.

"Well maybe if you weren't off in Europe running art heists, you would see me more often."

"Wait what-"

The way Damian had said this sounded teasing, but also fully serious.

"Oh it's nothing," Selina said with a laugh, looking over at Jon. "The kids like to tease me. They all seem to think I'm a cat burglar or something. And you must be the boy the media has been obsessed with!"

"Obsessed isn't quite the right word," Jon tried, but held out his hand. "Jonathan Kent, ma'am."

"Selina Kyle, and if you call me ma'am, we're going to have to have a serious talk," she said, looking a little stern there for a second. "Just Selina is fine!"

Selina smiled charmingly and shook Jon's hand, gaze flickering over him and lingering on his watch for a moment before snapping back up to his face.

"He's cute, Dami, where did you pick him up?"

Damian snorted, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "Tactful, Selina."

"Selina, if you could go sit down," the other woman asked, sounding exasperated.

"Talia! Really?! Your drawing can wait, come greet your child's friend!" Selina scolded, turning to look at her. "It's not like Bruce is going anywhere!"

"Actually I did promise to help Alfred-"

Almost in sync, Talia, Selina and Damian all laughed.

"Bruce, darling, I love you, but you're not stepping foot in that kitchen while we have guests."

Jon watched Selina walk over and plop herself back into Bruce's lap, leaning in to kiss him. Jon looked away, back to Damian, who just shook his head and rolled his eyes. He snagged Jon's sleeve and pulled him closer to Talia.

"Mother."

"Hello, Beloved. I heard your beast of a dog go barreling past."

"Titus was quite excited to get to come visit Ace."

Jon tuned out their conversation, looking at the drawing Talia had been doing. It was a portrait of Bruce and Selina, exactly how they were positioned in real life. It was clearly not finished yet, but it could have been left like that, and no one would have questioned it. It was such a gorgeous sketch, the proportions were amazing, and the facial details were almost perfect. Talia set down her pencil finally, pulled off an artists glove and then turned to Jon, extending her hand.

"Talia Al Ghul."

"Jonathan Kent."

Talia was undeniably Damian's mother. But you could tell where Damian got certain features from Bruce. Though there weren't many. Talia was beautiful, long brown hair, dark skin and green eyes like Damian, she had a bit of a rounder face, and Damian's jawline clearly came from Bruce. She was tall and muscular and would honestly be quite intimidating if she needed to be.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry it took so long, but I've been in Australia for quite a while."

"Yeah, I heard! Environment conservation, right?"

"Correct! You're a good listener aren't you?"

Jon just smiled. "I'm the son of two reporters, I'd sure hope so."

"OH! _That's_ who his parents are!"

Everyone looked at Selina, raising an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you tell me Big Blue was his dad!" Selina asked Bruce, punching his chest.

Bruce had barely moved this whole time. Just sat there, mostly looking at his phone, sometimes watching the two of them, but always smiling fondly. He just shrugged, glancing up at Jon.

"I wondered how long it'd take you."

"Mean!" Selina smacked Bruce's chest dramatically, causing a loud echo.

Jon looked between them, then up at Talia who was smiling fondly at them, and suddenly Damian's question made sense.

"Selina, how long are you in Gotham for?" Damian asked, looking back to the woman.

"Oh, just a few days, kiddo, I have some meetings in Vegas this weekend."

"You mean an art deal?"

"Oh my god! Damian!"

Damian snickered, shooting Jon a smirk.

"Damian, come here. What do you think of this?" Talia asked, snagging Damian's arm and pulling him past Jon, the two of them putting their heads together and murmuring softly about the drawing.

Jon turned to look around the room, noting some absolutely gorgeous paintings hanging on the wall. He walked a little closer and examined one, taking in the bright colors of the background, the silhouetted shapes of two dancers, one person in the middle of spinning out away from their partner. He could almost see the movement in the figures, which looked so human, so real. Like a photo.

"That's one of Damian's."

Jon startled slightly, looking over at Bruce's who had suddenly appeared beside him. For a fairly large man, he was startlingly quiet when he wanted to be.

"He painted this?"

"He's an amazing artist," Bruce said, confirming Jon's question with a nod. "I'm not positive, but I don't think he had a reference for this picture."

Jon gave a little "huh" noise, glancing over at Bruce again. They were the same height, surprisingly. He always figured Bruce Wayne would be huge. Bruce was wearing a very simple button down and slacks, his black hair was unstyled and partially in his eyes.

"He gets it from his mother."

Bruce looked back at Talia and Damian, who were using the ends of smudge brushes to point out imperfections. Then he glanced at Jon and grinned.

"Come on, give me all the hot gossip about your parents."

Jon ended up sitting down near Bruce and Selina, catching the man up on his family, how they had been, what they had been up to, those types of things. In exchange, Bruce told him a fun story about some social party in Paris he had just gotten back from. Rich people really just go to Paris for a weekend, huh?

After a bit, Damian came and stood beside him, hand on the back of the chair Jon was sitting in. He contributed to the conversation slightly, but mostly just watched, until there was a lull and he put his hand on Jon’s shoulder.

“Come. Let’s go see the others.”

Jon quickly excused himself, and then let Damian lead him further into the house, up a flight of stairs, then down a hall. He stopped in front of a door and knocked on it.

“Aye-yo?” a voice called from inside.

“Jay, it’s me.”

“Hey! Kiddo, come in!”

Damian held up a finger to Jon, asking him to stay there for a second while he slipped through the door. Jon waited patiently for a moment, he was able to hear low voices from inside, but wasn’t able to make out what they were discussing. Then the door swung open, and Damian motioned him in.

“You’ve met before, I believe, but this is Jason,” Damian informed him, motioning back behind him.

Sat on the floor, leaning back against the bed, was a fairly muscular man, he was surrounded by papers, a laptop sitting on his crossed legs, a Red Bull on the floor next to him. He had messy black hair, and was wearing a strange mix of track pants and a nice sweater. He reached up and closed his laptop lid, looking up at Jon.

“Hey, kid. Jon right?”

“Yeah,” Jon said and waved, looking around the room. 

It was a fairly clean bedroom, other than the papers on the floor and the bed, which wasn’t made yet.

“What are you working on?” Damian asked, walking over and sitting on the bed.

“Oh, just studying for a test on adverbs and shit.”

Damian hummed as Jason shut his laptop, setting it aside. He looked up at Jon again, giving him a critical examination.

“You’re in college?” Jon asked, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets.

“Uh, kinda. I’ve been in college for the last, what, nine years?”

“Hm, it does seem like it.”

“Holy shit, why?” Jon asked, eyes going wide.

“Well. I dual majored English Lit and Culinary, then went to get a doctorate for English Lit, then decided to get a BA in Spanish linguistics two years back, right as I was finishing my doctorate.”

“What the fuck,” was all Jon could say in response to that, staring at Jason, mouth falling open.

Jason laughed. “Yup, so you may refer to me as one, _Doctor_ Jason Todd, if you would.”

Jon ended up having to laugh and shake his head. “What are you even going to do with all those degrees?”

“Well, I’ve already been offered quite a few positions as a English professor, so we’ll see. I can do pretty much whatever I want with those three. Professor, interpreter, chef. I got a whole bunch of options.”

“Huh. . I guess that’s true.”

“What about you, farmboy. What are you in for?” Jason asked with a friendly grin.

“Radiology. Gonna be a radiology tech if I get my way.”

“Oh, nice. Didn’t want to go to med school?”

“No, I did. . . I just couldn’t afford it.”

Jason gave a long, drawn out ‘oooh’ noise, nodding sympathetically.

“That makes sense. Med school is a bitch from what I hear.”

“Yeah that’s the general consensus.”

There was a lull in the conversation that Damian easily filled, kicking Jason’s leg.

“Why didn’t you tell me Selina was back?”

“Because she just got back last night, squirt.”

“Ugh, quit.”

“Would you rather me start calling you short stack again?”

“You’re barely taller than me.”

“I’m taller than you by almost three inches!” Jason protested, twisting to look at Damian.

They kept bickering, but judging from their grins, it was all in good spirits, normal bickering for siblings. Jon could tell they had been, and still are very close. He recalled that of all his siblings, Damian seemed to talk about Jason the most. He wondered what the cause of that was.

“Hey, well I’m gonna get downstairs and help Alfred with lunch. You two going to see Timbop?”

“Maybe. Is he working?"

“I have no idea what he’s doing. I just know he’s awake because I saw him trudge past like a zombie.”

Damian chuckled, watching Jason pick up his papers, shove them into a file and set them on a desk. 

“Jon, good to see you, I’ll see you at lunch, assuming Bruce doesn’t come in and explode the kitchen.”

“Good luck,” Jon said with a laugh, watching Jason walk to the door, and then out.

Damian slid off the bed and followed him out, so Jon also followed, looking around the upstairs hallway, which was mostly empty. Damian walked a few doors down, tapping on another door.

“What!?”

“It’s Damian.”

“Oh. . . Is that one kid here?”

“Jon?”

Damian shot him an amused look, leaning a shoulder into the doorframe.

“Yeah, him.”

“Yes, he’s here. I’m looking at him right now.”

There was a pause, then what sounded like an annoyed grunt.

“I’ll just see you at lunch?”

“Okay. . . are you okay?”

“Yup.”

Damian rolled his eyes and turned to Jon. “Well then. Come along. Would you like to meet Ace?”

“Ace?” Jon inquired.

“My father’s German Shepherd.”

“I would _LOVE_ too!"

As Damian led him back downstairs, letting out a sharp high pitched whistle as they got down there, Jon found himself looking around the house and wondering how he got into the situation where the Wayne family knew him by first name. Oh yeah, he agreed to be an escort. Somehow he kept forgetting that. Or at least, until Damian easily reminded him of it by doing something as simple as suggesting he wear some big name brand shirt or paying him or taking him to a fancy event. 

Also the Wayne’s were an odd family. They were odd because they acted almost normal, and yet very very not. Like they were clearly just this big family that got into fights and got mad at each other, but at the end of the day still love each other and would fight for each other. But also they were just . . . weird. Jon didn’t quite know how else to describe it. They were a very eccentric bunch, and it definitely took some getting used to. That and Bruce clearly had no idea how money worked and how much normal things cost or worked. Jon had, true story, witnessed him pay for a thirty dollar meal with a hundred dollar bill and told the waiter to keep the change. Again. They were weird.

“So you and Jason are close?” Jon asked, nudging Damian slightly.

“Hmm? Oh. Yes. Well, I’ve known him the longest.”

“Really?”

Two dogs came running over. Titus, and then a slightly smaller, clearly older German shepherd. Jon crouched to greet them, letting the shepherd smell him before starting to rub his sides and back.

“Yes, you remember I mentioned living in Switzerland? Jason was attending a boarding school there, and he and mother happened to run into each other in town. She recognized him as one of Bruce’s kids, and Jason recognized her as Bruce’s ex-wife. Jason ended up becoming like an older brother to me before I even came to live with Father.”

“Oh, cool!” Jon grinned up at Damian, who smiled back, petting Titus’ head absently.

Lunch, once they were finally called for it and sat down at a stupidly large table in a stupidly large dining room, was eggplant lasagna. Jon assumed it was vegan, and yet there was cheese. And yes, he knows vegan cheese exists, but why would anyone want that? Well. Vegan’s probably do. Tim finally appeared, seemingly hastily dressed, judging by his partially tucked shirt and slightly crooked slacks.

During lunch, Jon got involved in a conversation that had originally been between Selina and Jason about art, and which era of art was the best. Jon wasn’t really qualified for this discussion, but he had made the mistake of making a comment about an art piece he had seen at a museum once and they had immediately decided he should be a part of the conversation. It was kind of nice, being included, but also odd because they just pulled him with no hesitation, like they had known him this whole time and knew he would gladly join in.

They stayed at the Wayne’s until after two, and by that point, Jon had been accepted into this odd, strange, weird yet wonderful family. Selina especially seemed to have taken a liking to him, but everyone seemed to be fond of him. They drove back to Damian’s apartment, crashed on the sofa and watched _Jumanji: Welcome To the Jungle_ based off of Jon’s suggestion. He liked not having to drive back for class the next day. Hell he liked not having class. No class was a good time.

Sitting there on the sofa, Jon looked over at Damian, who was laying there, Pennyworth on his stomach, idly stroking the cat. And Jon decided that, despite the odd circumstances, he had gotten a pretty good friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in less than two weeks, help-  
> I literally haven't worked on another big projects since this started, oops.
> 
> Anyway! I hope you enjoyed the update! I'll see everyone next time for the Finale, Part 3!


	3. And He Saves Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I finally bring you the final chapter! I have loved writing this fic, I loved the concept, and I'm so happy I've been able to complete it! I hope you guys enjoy this final, long awaited, very gay chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“Kent. What the hell did you do to my kitchen?”

Jon startled and looked up, towards the stairs.

“Hiii,” he said with a sheepish grin, trying to scrape the remains of the burnt french toast out of Damians frying pan.

Damian walked down the stairs and over to him, looking at the charred remains, then down at the trash, then up at Jon.

“How did you burn french toast?” He asked with a laugh, stepping away to get a cup of coffee.

“It happens! I was tired and I was trying to get my coffee and then I was texting Kathy and listen, I just  _ forgot _ .”

Damian snorted and shook his head. “You are, truly, a man of many talents, Jonathan.”

“Isn’t that why you keep me around?”

“Well, I kind of like to think I keep you around because you’re my friend.”

Jon set the pan down on the counter and turned to look at Damian. He was dressed for today’s outing, an outdoors fundraising event for Gotham General Hospital. The Wayne’s would be making a considerable donation, but had made it a habit in the past few years to always attend. As it was outdoors, in Gotham, during July, Damian had dressed appropriately for the weather. Or as appropriately as Damian could dress, since he refused to wear shorts. He had a pair of blue chinos, and a brown linen shirt, with his sleeves rolled up and a pair of brown, low-top sneakers. His hair was still slightly damp from his shower, and pieces were falling out of his usually swept back style.

“Awwww,” Jon cooed at him, then turned and stuck the pan in the sink to soak. “And everyone thinks you’re just some big grump."

Damian sighed, and walked away, filling up the animal’s feed bowls.

“Are you going to be ready to go in a few hours?”

“Yep! I showered last night, remember? So all I have to do is get dressed and then clean up really quick.”

“Good, good. And remember to put on some sunscreen.”

“I remember.”

They ate breakfast together in companiable silence. After a couple months "together", they'd gotten used to each other and their morning habits, especially since Jon had been spending more and more time in Gotham since spring classes ended, and his only summer class was online. Damian was a fairly quiet person, and he was even quieter in the mornings, often preferring to avoid idle chatter until after breakfast. Jon, a trained morning person, had forced himself to get used to this, and to let Damian have his peace, versus at home when his family could have three conversations in five minutes.

"When do fall classes start?" Damian asked once they had finished, picking up Jon's plate and taking it to the sink.

"Uhhhh, August . . . End of August, I don't remember the exact date."

Damian nodded in understanding, finishing his coffee and covering the coffee pot before putting it in the fridge to save the leftovers. Jon watched as he walked over to check his herbs and other various plants. 

"My brothers are coming back next weekend."

Damian looked up and over at him. "Really?"

"Yup. They want to meet you."

"Do they still think we're dating seriously?"

Jon hummed in response, his chin on his hand.

"Then I do believe I can arrange that."

Jon smiled fondly at his friend. "They're coming back for my birthday."

"Oh? Really? Is that this weekend?"

"Yeeepp."

"Hmm, what day?"

"Friday, technically."

Damian nodded thoughtfully and then went about caring for his plants. Jon chuckled and got up, walking up to his room to change. At this point he'd just completely taken over Damian's guest bedroom, and had a small wardrobe of stuff he left here now, as well as some bathroom things. 

He had pre-planned his outfit for today so it didn't take him long to get dressed. He pulled on a pair of light shorts and a patterned button up, leaving it untucked to give himself a more "hip" look. Then it was off to the bathroom to tame his curls and make himself presentable.

They hung out for a few hours before driving down to the park for the event. They were only an hour late, which meant they were right on time for the Wayne family. Jon had gotten used to this, despite his usually tendencies to be perfectly punctual.

"Here we are, ready to be boyfriends again?"

"Ugh, do I have to?"

Damian shook his head and smiled softly at him.

"Yes, I do believe that is your job description."

Jon chuckled, looking over and grinning at Damian, who smiled back. Something caught his eye, and Jon reached over, on impulse, and grabbing the golden chain that was mostly hidden under Damian's shirt. Damian froze but didn't bat him off as he gently pulled it out. At the end was a small medallion. It was also gold, and had a singular word, but in a language Jon didn't understand. He looked from the necklace, up to Damian, noting they were fairly close.

"What does it mean?" He asked softly.

Damian reached up, gently grabbing Jon's hand, fingers curled around his wrist. But he didn't pull his hand away, and he held steady eye contact.

"It means family," he responded, voice equally soft. "Jason got it for me, when I was little."

They sat there in the silence of the car, in the middle of the parking lot, with no one around to see them, and they just looked at each other.

And Jon tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.

"Paparazzi," Damian murmured, glancing sideways. 

Jon looked over without turning his head and sighed, seeing the men with cameras.

"Kiss?"

Damian hummed an affirmative, and Jon leaned in the necessary inches, gently pressing their lips together.

They had kissed before, a good many times for video cameras or paparazzi or a photo shoot. Jon never paid much attention to it, it just was part of the job. It was like he had mentally turned off the idea of kissing Damian holding any significance. He certainly didn't  _ mind _ kissing Damian, he was a good kisser.

They kissed for a moment before Damian pulled away, kissing Jon's forehead quickly before turning to get out of the car. Jon followed his lead, making sure he had his phone before getting out, walking over to Damian's side. Damian locked the door, then leaned into him to whisper in his ear.

"Paparazzi are the most annoying breed of media people," he murmured. "They're like . . . Raccoons. Digging through everyone else's garbage for something they consider to be good."

Jon busted out laughing, instinctively putting an arm around Damian's waist, even as he glanced up to find the paparazzi snapping more photos of them.

"Come on, let's go find your family."

They started weaving their way through the crowds, holding hands and heading in the general direction of one of the large shelters, where Damian must have spotted someone. Sure enough, once they reached the shelter, Jon recognized Dick, and his husband, Wally.

"Richard!" Damian called, lifting his hand to wave.

Dick spun around, immediately grinning. "Little D! And Jonno!"

"Hello, Dick," Jon greeted with a chuckle.

Then he noticed the kids pressed against Wally's legs.

"Well, hello there!" Damian greeted, having noticed them at the same time.

"Uncle Dami!" The girl cried, launching herself forwards to hug the man, who had released Jon's hand and crouched down for the hug.

A boy, not to be outdone by his sister, rushed forwards, hugging Damian as well and nearly knocking him down to the ground.

"Jon, these are my step-kids. Jai and Irey," Dick explained, motioning at them as they chatted animatedly with Damian. "And I believe you met Wally a few weeks ago?"

"Yes! Good to see you again, Mr. West," Jon greeted the ginger, stepping forwards to shake his hand.

Wally ignored it and hugged him. "You too, kid. How's mean ol Damian treating you?"

Jon snorted, shoving Wally's arm off his neck. "Damian's not mean or old, and he's treating me well."

"Oh ho? I think someone's attached," Dick inputted, leaning in.

"Maybe a little too attached, if you get my drift?"

Jon gawked at the couple, then shook his head rapidly.

"Stop it you two!" He laughed, going to stand beside Damian, now that he had stood back up.

As the day went on, they slowly started finding more and more of Damian's family. Selina and Talia were walking around together, both dressed in beautiful summer outfits, Bruce was busy talking with other rich people and politicians and socialising with hospital workers or blue collar workers and just in general being a Good Celebrity™. Jason was apparently in Star City, visiting his boyfriend, and Tim was floating around, sometimes hiding in out of the way places, sometimes commanding the audiences and talking like a practiced CEO.

Jon loved Damian's family. They were an eccentric bunch, and had taken some time to get used to, but now he genuinely enjoyed spending time with them. Which is how he found himself sitting with Talia, while Damian was busy pushing a bunch of kids on the merry go round.

"You're rather fond of Damian, I see?" Talia inquired, turning in her seat to face him.

"Yeah. He's . . . Your son is an amazing person, and he's become a good friend," Jon said, barely pulling his eyes off of Damian to look over at her.

He was for some reason really intrigued by watching Damian interact with kids. It seemed so natural for him, he laughed and grinned and just seemed to click with them. He looked like good dad material.

"And is he truly just a friend?" Talia continued, finally pulling Jon's attention fully to her.

"W-what?"

"I am not blind, Jonathan."

"Ma'am-" Jon started, turning to face her.

She just smiled, and somehow that cut him off completely. They sat there, looking at each other, Jon's face turning red, until he broke eye contact.

"Jonathan, you're a good man, anyone can see that, and I can tell he does truly care for you. However your relationship ends up, I'm happy for both of you," Talia told him gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks," he breathed out.

Talia squeezed his shoulder. "Now, I'm going to go find Bruce and make sure he's staying hydrated, I suggest you do the same for Damian, and don't forget to reapply sunscreen. Alfred gave Wally some."

Jon nodded and watched her stand up from the picnic table, then walk away. He looked back towards Damian, watching him catch the merry go round and nearly got yanked off his feet. A couple kids tumbled off, giggling and swaying, thanking him with high fives before running away to go find their parents. Damian crouched to tie a little girls shoes, glancing up as the girl chatted with him animatedly. It was so interesting to Jon that these parents, in Gotham of all places, would just let their kids run around a park freely and interact with strange adults, but the kids seemed completely at ease with Damian.

Jon didn't even know he was staring, but he was. He was watching Damian laughing and playing with these children, and he was just smiling to himself.

"Mr. Kent."

Jon nearly startled out of his skin, whipping around to see who had spoken to him, and barely hiding a scowl when he recognized a reporter. Vicki Vale, if he remembered correctly.

"Hello?"

"Vicki Vale." So he was right. "I was wondering if we could have a little chat?"

Jon sighed, glancing down at his empty lemonade cup. "No, sorry, I need to go talk to Damian."

"It'll just be a few minutes!" Vicki assured him quickly. "A quick exclusive."

"Ma'am, I'm the son of Lois Lane and Clark Kent, don't ever assume I can be fooled by a reporters "a few minutes"."

Vicki scowled at him.

"Ah! Ms. Vale, is there anything we can help you with?" 

Both Vicki and Jon startled, looking up to see Damian approaching.

"Oh, Mr. Wayne. . . " She looked between Damian and Jon. "No, I was just saying hello to Mr. Kent here. You'll say hi to your parents for me?"

Jon hummed a confirmation that really meant "never in my life". Damian raced an eyebrow as he sat behind Jon, sliding his arms around Jon's waist, and resting his chin on his shoulder.

"I'm sure you were, Ms. Vale."

She didn't hide her scowl this time. "Have a good day, Mr. Wayne."

"And you, Ms. Vale."

Jon watched Vicki all but storm off.

"She's just a basket of peaches, ain't she?'

Damian snorted softly. "What does that mean?"

"I dunno, just something my grandma used to say."

Damian hummed, and Jon found himself relaxing back against his chest, putting his weight on the other man.

"So what did she want, really?"

"A quick exclusive."

"Oh of course."

"Yeah. Hey have you been staying hydrated?"

Damian reached over and picked up his water bottle, shaking it to show that it was mostly empty.

"Good." 

Jon tilted his head up to look at Damian, and with a soft smile, the other man ducked his head and kissed Jon's cheek. Then they just sat there, looking at each other.

"Okay! Everyone, thank you so much for coming! We're going to go ahead and do our door prizes and raffle tickets!" 

Jon looked away, over towards the stage where the announcement had come from. 

"Should we go to that?"

"I don't have any reason to."

"Okay."

So Jon didn't move. He just pulled out his phone, snapped a few cute photos of them, and then set about posting to Instagram. Damian didn't speak, but he didn't move or loosen his hold, so Jon didn't make any effort to leave. Besides he was comfortable.

He was comfortable with Damian.

"Hey, there you two are. Jon, Talia says you need to reapply sunscreen."

Jon looked up as Tim walked over, pulling a container of their eco friendly sunscreen out of his pocket and passing it over.

"Man, your mom is just peak mom, isn't she?" Jon asked, looking up at Damian before sitting up.

He didn't see the silent exchange that passed between the two brothers.

"She cares about you," Damian told him softly.

Jon quickly reapplied sunscreen to his exposed skin before passing the container back to Tim. He turned to Damian, who chuckled, and reached up, smoothing a line of sunscreen out, right by Jon's nose.

"Oh thanks."

"Bruce wanted to know if you two were coming out for dinner?"

Jon couldn't help it, he just snorted, smirking.

"What?" Damian asked, eyebrow raising.

"Nothing nothing."

"Jonathan."

"It's just- I came out years ago, Tim-"

Tim groaned and rolled his eyes. "You dork."

Jon snickered, turning to grin at Damian, who rolled his eyes, but was smiling.

"Anyway, yes, we will come to the manor for dinner," Damian confirmed, reaching up to hook an arm around Jon's waist and pull him back again.

"Okay, cool. Six thirty, as usual."

"Right."

Tim eyed them for a moment before turning and walking off.

The rest of the day at the park was rather fun. Eventually some fun and games type things started, Jon beat the Wayne's at Cornhole, with Wally's help (they dubbed themselves team Midwest). Then he spent some time playing with Jai and Irey, and by five, he was all but stumbling back to Damian, tired, but grinning happily. 

"Are you ready to go, beloved?" Damian asked, turning away from the group of middle-aged adults he had been chatting with.

"Yeah, it's hot."

Damian smiled softly, slipping an arm around Jon.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I should get my boyfriend back home before he gets overheated."

Jon stood there as Damian said goodbye to everyone, then he let himself be led away.

"Do you want to go back to my apartment and change before we go to the Manor?"

"Please," Jon practically begged, nodding with a smile.

Damian nodded, and once they were in the car with the engine running, he pulled out his phone, presumably to text a family member that they were leaving. They started driving back through town, to his apartment building, and Jon was doing his best not to fall asleep. Once they got back, he went and showered quickly, then changed into jeans and a t-shirt, grabbing a hoodie before walking back downstairs. Damian was sat on the sofa, looking at his phone, and Jon just walked right over. 

He couldn’t tell you why he did it, but he just plopped down next to Damian, leaning into him.

“Tired?” Damian inquired, looking down at him as he set his phone down.

“A little. The heat kind of takes it out of ya.”

Damian hummed in agreement, adjusting so his arm was around Jon. “We have a little bit if you want to take a quick nap.”

“Naw, I don’t want to make us late.”

“Shh, nap,” Damian insisted, smiling softly at him.

“Okay okay fine, but don’t let me sleep too long.”

Jon shifted a bit to get comfortable, before closing his eyes. Yep, he was fully intending to nap on Damian, and who was going to stop him.

True to his nature, he fell asleep pretty quickly, and when he woke up, He was practically laying fully against Damian’s chest, and he could feel Damian gently playing with his hair. He inhaled deeply, and adjusted slightly, but otherwise made no effort to move.

“Are you awake?” Damian asked, speaking very softly, practically whispering.

“Yeah, what time is it?”

“Six twenty.”

“What time were we supposed to be at your parents?” 

Jon pushed away just enough to rub at his eyes, then tilted his head up to look at Damian, who had his head tilted slightly to look at him better.

“Six thirty.”

“Ah fuck!” Jon exclaimed, sitting up quickly. “I’m sorry! You should’ve woken me up!”

Damian just smiled and shook his head, reaching out to push Jon’s hair back.

“I was content to let you sleep.”

“Yeah but your family!”

“It’s not the first time I’ve been late to something, and it certainly won’t be the last time.”

Jon scowled at him. They weren’t that far apart, maybe just a foot, but Damian wasn’t speaking, just smiling softly, and Jon felt that familiar fluttering in his chest. Neither of them were looking away. 

“Um-”

“Can I kiss you?” Damian asked softly, reaching up and gently cupping Jon’s face.

Jon nodded, licking his lips. Damian leaned in and gently pressed their lips together. Jon immediately relaxed into him, eyes sliding close. It was familiar, kissing Damian, but this kiss seemed entirely different then their camera kisses. This one was tender and timid and hopeful. And Jon never wanted to end it.

But Damian pulled away, giving him a slightly wary look. Jon just smiled, moving a hand up to Damian’s arm.

Then his phone started ringing.

Jon startled, yanking back, looking for the offending device. Damian just sighed and picked his phone up from the sofa beside him, and then leaned away, answering it.

“Yes, Grayson?”

“Hey I thought you two were coming for dinner?” Jon could hear Dick through the phone.

“We are.”

“Uhm. It’s almost six-thirty?”

Damian made eye contact with Jon before speaking. “I thought Tim said seven?”

“When have we ever eaten at seven?”

“Ah shit, I’m sorry, I really thought it was later, we’ll get ready and leave now.”

“. . . Yeah, Okay. See you in a bit, little D.”

Damian hung up and set the phone down.

“Why did you lie?”

“Because he doesn’t need to know the truth.”

Jon just shook his head, sitting up properly, and rubbing his eyes again.

“Come on, let’s go, can’t be late again!”

Damian hopped up and headed towards the stairs. Jon twisted to watch him walk away, but stayed silent, thinking about that kiss.

The kiss he had greatly enjoyed.

The realization hit him like a truck. He wanted this. He wanted to live with Damian, he wanted to wake up next to Damian, he wanted to kiss him and cuddle with him and walk around holding hands, and have it be real. He had gotten to fake date Damian for three months now, and now he wanted to real date Damian. And he wasn’t sure if that was a problem or not. 

He didn’t move until Damian, having reached the top of the stairs, turned around and reminded him to get moving. He jumped up, quickly used the bathroom, and then put on a pair of sneakers, calling Titus and getting his collar and leash put on. When Damian came back down, he had swapped out his brown button down for a dark gray t-shirt. 

“Ready?” He asked, grabbing his keys and wallet.

“Yep, got the dog ready too.”

The drive to the Manor was quiet, and if anything a little awkward, and Jon just tried to shove his realization down so he could focus on the evening with the Wayne’s.

When they got there, it was instantly chaos and noise, even in the front entryway they could hear the bickering. Damian shot Jon an amused look, letting Titus free. The dog ran in, barking as he went to find Ace.

"They're probably already in the dining room."

Damian kicked off his shoes at the front door, Jon hurried to follow after him, toeing off his sneakers and then rushing after Damian. He bumped their arms together. Damian looked over and smiled at him. His fingers curled around Jon's wrist, then he slid his hand down, intertwining their fingers. Jon felt his face start to hear up. 

Damian dropped his hand just outside the dining room. He shot one last warm smile at Jon before pushing open the door and entering into the chaos that was family dinner with the Wayne's. At one end of the table, Jai and Irey were loudly bickering, while Tim chimed in and only chased them to argue more. Dick and Talia were deep in conversation, having to talk loud enough to hear each other over the kids, and Bruce and Selina had their heads together so they could talk. Wally was sat in the middle, looking a little dead inside.

"They made it!" Jai cried loudly, pointing.

"Oh thank  _ god!" _

"Oh shut up." Damian rolled his eyes and walked over to his usual seat, next to Talia.

"I can't believe you thought I said seven," Tim inputted, leaning around Irey to look at them.

"I just misheard you."

"Uh huh. More likely you were just distracted."

Dick gave a pointed glance at Jon who grinned sheepishly. 

"Whoops."

Damian just rolled his eyes. "Listen here, you jerk."

"Well now that everyone is here, why don't we eat." Bruce easily interrupted the inevitable argument. "Jai, Irey, would you two want to help Alfred?"

The twins immediately jumped up and went running into the kitchen. Dick chuckled a bit.

"So how'd you like the picnic, Jon?"

Jon chatted idly with Damian's parents while they waited for food, talking about the picnic, about his parents, about summer classes. They each seemed to have endless questions for him, but the conversation didn't feel forced or like an interview. It was easy to talk to the three.

The actual meal portion of the evening was quiet, soft conversations floating through the room, keeping things from being awkward. Jon was fairly comfortable with the Wayne's by now, they weren't like, a second family or anything, but more like close family friends who you had known for a long time. 

After dinner, they all went to the family room, and Jon and Damian got squished onto a sofa with Jai and Irey. The twins were playing a game on Wally's phone, quite intensely focused on it. Since they were sitting four people on a three person sofa, Damian and Jon were pressed together, Damian's arm up on the back of the sofa to make it a little more comfortable. And Jon? Jon ended up just leaning into Damian, accepting their current position and thriving in it.

He made eye contact with Bruce at one point, and the man just smiled at him. A smile that was knowing, and somehow relayed acceptance and permission. Bruce was okay with this. Bruce was okay with Jon pursuing Damian. Jon couldn't tell you how he knew that, but just their little exchange told him, and he knew it undoubtedly.

And that stirred up the butterflies in his stomach.

* * *

Jon wasn’t nervous. Why would he be nervous? He had no reason to be nervous at all. Definitely not that fact that his two older brothers are going to meet his fake boyfriend-who-is-kinda-not-really-fake-anymore. Nope, not nervous. 

Chris had gotten in two days ago, as he had gotten a longer vacation time then Kon had been able to get. It did help that Chris worked mostly for their grandparents, but specifics. Chris’ first step had been to mock Jon ceaselessly once he had seen just how many fancy clothes he had acquired.

“God, Jon, I thought you were dating this guy, not being his sugar baby,” Chris had said, turning a smug grin towards him.

Jon had choked on his words, he reached out and slugged Chris in the shoulder hard. Chris had just laughed at him. 

Kon had, unsurprisingly, reacted the same way, just even worse about the teasing, since half of Jon’s nice clothes from Damian were in his room.

“I swear, I’m surprised you guys haven’t built him a whole new closet,” Kon complained at dinner that night, motioning with his fork. “Who even  _ needs _ that many clothes? Have you even worn any of them?”

“Yeah. . . I’ve worn each piece at least once, if not multiple times,” Jon countered, poking at his pork chop. Hanging out with Damian made him less interested in meat. 

“Oh my god, this is it. He’s converting farm boy Jon. Hello? Do I need to reintroduce myself?” Kon asked with a slight laugh, shaking his head and leaning over to nudge Jon.

“Kon, lay off him,” Chris said, with a grin that indicated he was not about to help Jon at all. “Can’t you see the lovesick expression?”

Jon started, looking up at his brother. “Wha?”

He had started thinking about Damian, which had led to thinking about kissing Damian which had made him fully space out.

“Oh my god, you’re useless. Gay and useless.”

“Boys,” Lois said with a soft sigh, raising an eyebrow at them. “Leave your brother alone, won’t you? Did he ever tease you like this about your dates?”

Kon and Chris both loudly exclaimed yes at the same time. Lois just shook her head. Jon shrugged, grinning sheepishly at her. 

He had told his mom, when he’d gotten home after the charity picnic. He had told her about his realization and about their kiss. She hadn’t seemed too surprised, but had listened politely the whole time and given him advice that seemed very simple on paper. Just be honest, she had said. Jon had laughed at her advice, because it wasn’t that easy. It was such a weird situation, all around, with having been fake dating Damian and now having fallen for him. It wasn’t as simple as just telling him the truth.

When Jon had told his brothers that Damian was coming down for the weekend, he had seen their faces light up, like hunters who had spotted their prey, and he instantly regretted telling them. 

“Guys, please,” Jon implored, sighing in pre-pain.

“What, Jonno? You’re our baby brother! We’ve gotta haze the boyfriend at least a little, and besides, you’ve been dating him for what, three months now? If your two brothers are the deal breaker here, then I think there’s other things wrong.”

“I hate you both.”

“No you don’t.”

Kon, Jon’s half brother, was older than Jon by five years. He was currently living in Keystone City with his long time boyfriend, Bart Allen, where he worked as a firefighter, and Bart was trying to get a chemist degree. Kon and Jon were pretty close, all things considered, but they had drifted a bit since Jon had started college and gotten busy with that, and that was only on him. Kon was a near identical twin to Clark, other than hairstyle and clothing choices. Whereas Clark tended to dress in business or farmer boy, Kon was nothing but a stylish punk mid-twenty something.

Chris on the other hand, looked nothing like any of the family. Mostly because he wasn’t their biological family. Lois and Clark had adopted him when he was eight, Jon was six at the time. Despite their lack of DNA ties, Chris was undoubtedly their brother. He had dirty blonde hair and golden brown eyes, and a dry humor. He was quieter than the rest of the family, but make no mistake, he knows more than anyone in the house. He was currently living in Kansas with Jonathan and Martha Kent, their grandparents, helping them on the farm and doing some basic agriculture college while he was there.

Jon doesn’t really hate his brothers, he just happens to be incredibly nervous about them meeting Damian. He just doesn’t trust them.

Friday was his birthday, and for his birthday, Kon and Chris spent the day dragging him around Metropolis, to all their favorite locations, just having fun and hanging out while Lois and Clark were at work. For the most part, it was mostly just laughter and teasing, but in the afternoon, they were sitting on some swings in a park, kids laughing as they played on the other playground equipment, Kon turned to look at Jon.

“Hey, sport.”

“Hm?” Jon looked up from his phone. He had been texting Damian, predictably.

“About Damian. . . “

“Oh god, Kon, please. He’s a good guy, okay?”

“I don’t give a shit what type of a person he is. He could adopt every stray puppy he’d ever met and I wouldn’t care, okay? What I need to know is, does he make you happy?”

Jon sighed, setting his phone in his lap, turning to face Kon and look him dead in the eyes. 

“He makes me really happy.”

“Do you love him?”

“I love him more than I love chili cheese dogs.”

Kon snorted slightly, glancing past Jon at Chris.

“Does he love you?” Chris asked softly. 

This made Jon pause. For their cover, or for the media, he would say yes, always. But this wasn’t the media.

“I think so,” he said, just as soft, looking back at Chris. 

“Have you guys ever said it?”

“No- er, well. Not in a way that wasn’t as a joke.”

Chris nodded, glancing up as a kid started crying. A mom jumped up from a picnic table under the shelterhouse and went running over to scoop her child up.

“I’m glad he makes you happy, Jon. But if he ever hurts you, I’m coming for his kneecaps.”

Jon snorted, glancing back to Kon. “Kon, come on.”

“Nope, no arguments. Chris and I will fly up to Gotham, find him, and kneecap that bitch.”

“Agreed.”

They reached across Jon to do their brother secret handshake. Jon just laughed and shoved them both away from him. Like a pendulum, they swung in and smacked into him at the same time, causing all three to groan. 

“When’s he getting here?”

“He said he wouldn’t be able to leave until four at the earliest. He had meetings all day,” Jon answered, checking his phone quickly.

“Hmm, a fancy bitch.”

“What does he even do, anyway? Like, job wise?”

“Oh, he’s a model and an environmental activist. He does a lot of talks and stuff for that, and he really works with his dad’s company on their environmental projects.”

“Oh that’s cool, a model you say?”

“Kon no-”

Kon was already pulling up his phone. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t have seen photos of Damian already, but there was a difference between the photos Jon sent them or posted online, and the ones he did for his model shoots.

“Oh whoa.”

Kon leaned across Jon to show Chris a photo of Damian, one of his pride month campaign photos. He was in half drag, wearing heels and a skirt, but shirtless, a pride flag painted over his face in face chalk, some of the powder covering his chest as well. 

“Oh hell yeah, we love this for him.”

Jon just groaned and hid his face in his hands. 

Damian got there around six-thirty that night. Jon was in the bathroom when he came, and he wasn’t able to get out there fast enough to stop Kon from getting the door. He walked up right as Kon was saying hi.

“Hello! You must be the boyfriend,” Kon greeted, with a shark like smile. “I’m Kon, his oldest brother.”

Damian, true to his training in dealing with people, just smiled and held out his hand to Kon once he had stepped in. 

“Damian Wayne, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh trust me, the pleasure is mine.” 

This feeling that his brothers were going to be the death of him had started to settle over Jon. Luckily, Damian saw Jon standing in the doorway, and a soft smile formed on his face. The butterflies in Jon’s stomach fluttered, making themselves well known.

“Jon,” he greeted, slipping past Kon to come over and hug him.

“They don’t know,” Jon whispered in his ear, then pulled away and kissed Damian quickly. 

“Happy Birthday, beloved.”

“Thank you, Dami.”

Chris, from behind Jon, cleared his throat. Jon sighed and stepped back, out of Damian’s arms, turning and pointing to him. 

“And this is Chris. Chris, Damian.”

“Ah, yes, good to meet you.”

“Yeah! It’s good to finally meet the guy our brother’s been  _ apparently _ dating for months now.”

“Chris!” Jon groaned, giving him a stink eye.

“He’s fine, beloved, I do believe a little hazing is appropriate, besides, I doubt anyone can match my brothers,” Damian said with a chuckle, slipping an arm around Jon’s waist.

“That’s. . . a very good point, but not a good excuse!”

Chris and Kon laughed. 

“Are your parents here? I should go say hello to them too,” Damian asked, looking up to Jon. 

“Yeah, mom’s in the kitchen and Dad is. . . in the office, I guess?” He looked to his brothers for confirmation and they just shrugged. Very helpful.

“Alright, I’ll be right back.”

He kissed Jon on the cheek before turning and disappearing back into the kitchen.

“You two assholes better be nice to him or I’ll never ever ever let you guys get away with anything ever again and I will show  _ each _ of your significant others all of your embarrassing childhood photos,” Jon hissed, glaring at his brothers.

“Oh-ho! MOOOMMM!” Kon yelled, turning towards the kitchen. “JON SAID A BAD WORD!”

“Tattle tale!” Jon yelled back, lunging to smack Kon on the chest.

This just caused laughter, and an intense glare from Jon.

“I swear, you two. . .”

“What’s going on?”

All three of them jumped when Lois appeared in the kitchen doorway, eyebrow raised.

“Jon said a bad word!”

“Jon’s twenty, honey, I think he can say a few bad words every now and then.”

“Mom, they’re bullying my boyfriend.”

“Damian’s twenty- uh, how old are you?”

“Twenty-two,” Damian supplied from behind Lois, laughing.

“Damian is twenty-two, honey, I think he can handle your older brothers.”

All three of the boys pouted at her. Damian slipped past her, grabbing Jon’s hand and pulling him towards the door. “Come on, help me get my things from the car.”

“Okay!” 

Jon quickly slipped on some shoes and followed him out, walking out to Damian’s classic, vintage car, fingers intertwined.

“Your brothers don’t know?”

“No, I didn’t tell them at first because I was worried about the secret getting out, and then it just got to the point of being too late.”

Damian hummed, pulling out his keys, unlocking the door and then reaching into the back, Jon waited politely, glancing up to see Kon and Chris standing at the window, gawking at them, and more likely, Damian’s car. Jon rolled his eyes, shifting his gaze back to Damian. He was dressed like he had just come from a business meeting, which he had. Tan slacks and a white dress shirt, a jacket had been discarded in the driver's seat.

“Jon, close your eyes.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just trust me?”

“Fine.”

Jon squeezed his eyes closed. He heard some crinkling noises, and his curiosity only spiked higher. 

“Okay, hold out your hands.”

Jon did as he was instructed. A box was pushed into his hands, something else on top of it, and that was what was causing the crinkling. 

“Okay, look.”

Jon opened his eyes, looking down. Sure enough, in his hands was a box, wrapped in blue fabric, and on top of that was a bundle of flowers, sunflowers, some white roses, and some lilies. 

“Oh my god, Damian!” he exclaimed, shifting the box to one hand so he could pick up the flowers and look at them closer. 

Damian chuckled. “A good choice then?”

“They’re gorgeous!”

He set the box on the top of the car, and without really even thinking about it, he stepped in, slipping an arm over Damian’s shoulders, and leaned in and kissed him. Damian froze for a moment before his hands landed on Jon’s waist and he pressed back. Jon’s butterflies roared to life louder than ever, because yep, they were kissing for real this time. He let himself lean back against the car, his other arm still holding onto the flowers coming up over Damian’s other shoulder, keeping him in close, and Damian didn’t even try to resist. Damian was eagerly kissing him back.

This went on for a bit longer before Damian pulled away, smiling. He spoke softly, eyes meeting Jon’s. “Happy Birthday, again, Jon.”

“Thank you.” Jon whispered back, equally soft. 

Damian’s eyes slipped off of him, looking at the house behind him, and an amused smirk slid onto his face. 

“Oh god, what are they doing?”

“Making vaguely threatening, or disgusted expressions at me.”

“I hate them.”

“No you don’t. I’ve heard you talk about them too much to believe that.”

“Shh, you can’t tell them that, it’ll go to their heads.”

Damian laughed, looking back at Jon. “Can I?”

Jon nodded. Damian leaned in, gently kissing him once more before pulling away and stepping back. He turned and grabbed a backpack out of his car before shutting and locking the door.

“You know you don’t have to lock your car, right? We live in the middle of nowhere.”

“Jon, I lock my car on my father’s fenced and gated property with high security. I’m going to lock my car at your farmhouse in the middle of nowhere too.”

“Alright, alright, fine!” Jon laughed, bumping into him. “You can go put your stuff in my room.”

“I’ll see if I remember the way.”

While Damian disappeared upstairs, Jon left the wrapped present in the living room, then headed to the kitchen.

“Oh my god, did he get you those?” Lois exclaimed, turning from where she was finishing up dinner. 

“Yes!”

“Oh that is so sweet!” Lois exclaimed, smiling at Jon knowingly.

“Yeah! They’re so gorgeous!” 

Lois gave him a ball jar, and he quickly trimmed and arranged the flowers. He’d take them upstairs to his room later, but for now they could sit in the kitchen and look pretty.

It took a while to finally rope everyone together to sit at the table and eat. Jon had specially requested vegetarian enchiladas - because he was a sap and wanted Damian to be able to eat the same thing as them - and Lois had obliged, figuring out the best recipe and spending last night prepping it, so that the moment she got home from work she could put everything together and shove them in the oven.

Surprisingly, Kon and Chris didn’t even realize it was vegetarian until Damian brought it up, and then they were both shocked, and as it seemed, fake betrayed. But it was quite the conversation starter for Damian to talk about what exactly he did, as an environmental activist. Despite his worries, it seemed like Kon and Chris settled pretty quickly, talking to Damian like normal people, instead of just harassing him constantly.

The whole family sang happy birthday to Jon before he was allowed to blow out candles, all twenty of them, and then they had cake and ice cream, sitting in the living room and chatting. Jon was sitting tucked up underneath Damian’s arm, and honestly he couldn’t be happier.

“Okay! It’s presents time!” Chris exclaimed jumping up.

There was a small collection of presents by the TV, Chris grabbed a couple and brought them over to Jon, who straightened, sitting up from under Damian’s arm. He accepted the gifts from Chris, who brought the others over to sit by his feet. There was five total.

Presents were mostly interrupted by hazing from his brothers, and Damian being a distraction, and Lois wanting pictures.

In the end, his parents had gotten him two gifts. The first being a new backpack, which was much needed, and the second being an old Polaroid camera, complete with a couple roles of film. Jon was so excited by the camera that it had to be taken from him so he'd finish unwrapping presents.

Kon had gotten him this large  _ round  _ stuffed seal that was so incredibly squishy and soft. Kon joked that it could be his cuddle buddy when Damian isn't around. And Chris had gotten him  _ The Song of Achilles _ which he and Jon had talked about a few times, and Jon was excited to be able to read.

Damian's gift, however, had been unexpected. He carefully slipped the box out of the fabric it had been wrapped in, which Damian was quick to reclaim, probably for future use, and then carefully opened the box. It was a fairly flat but long box, and he reached inside, feeling the edge of a picture frame. He looked up and raised an eyebrow at Damian, who just grinned back.

"What did you do?" Jon asked, starting to pull it out.

"Well . . . I figured I'd already bought you so much, I'd give you something money couldn't buy."

Jon had just pulled the picture out and turned it to face him. Immediately his mouth fell open. 

"Oh god, Damian!"

The picture was actually watercolor painting. In the painting, it showed a scene of Damian's living room, Jon sat on the floor, Titus' big head in his lap, and Damian on the sofa above him, and slightly to the left, Pennyworth curled up in his arms. It was an absolutely gorgeous painting, all the colors blended beautifully, and the shapes and scenery, everything was gorgeous.

"Damian," Jon whispered, looking up at him.

Damian grinned, reaching over and tapping the back. Jon flipped it over and found a note taped to the back of the picture frame. He took it off, unfolding it and reading it.

_ Jonathan, _

_ I hope this gift can express what I can't seem too. I've been left, wordless, hoping that you understood. This painting is more of a dream, then a capture of any real situation. A dream of the future. Of  _ **_our_ ** _ future, if I'm lucky. _

_ Sincerely yours, _

_ Damian _

Jon sat there looking at the note for a moment. Then he gently set the painting down on the floor, turned to Damian and hugged him tightly. 

"Thank you so much," Jon murmured softly, squeezing his eyes shut.

Damian chuckled softly. "Of course, beloved."

"What is it?" Lois asked, pulling Jon's attention away.

Jon pulled away, leaving the note next to Damian as he stood and showed his family the painting. They all cooed over it and praised Damian for how beautiful it looked. Damian just smiled and shrugged, downplaying his artistic talent like he always does.

"Oh stop it!" Jon said, coming over and sitting next to him, pushing his squishy seal aside so he could, looking over at him.

"Stop what?"

"You're an amazing artist, and I wish you'd just let us praise you." Jon pouted slightly at him.

"I'm nothing compared to Umi."

"Damian."

Damian just grinned in response. They were so close, sitting how they were, and Jon couldn't resist. He leaned in and gently pecked Damian's lips. 

"Just accept it, okay?"

"Mm, okay."

They smiled at each other, and Damian kissed him softly again.

"Okay, gross!!" Kon yelled, throwing a wad of wrapping paper at them and hitting Jon in the back of the head.

"Hey!" Jon turned and quickly retaliated, throwing it back. 

A full out wrapping paper war started after that, balls being thrown back and forth by the brothers, while Damian, Lois and Clark just watched and laughed.

"Okay, boys, time to get this all cleaned up!" Lois announced after a bit, when Jon was pinned under Kon, being tickled.

"Aww, but mom!" Chris complained, about to shove a pillow on Jon's face to smother him.

Jon looked over at Damian, with a pleading expression. Damian just laughed at him, snapping a picture.

"Ass!" Jon exclaimed.

Eventually Kon let him up, and Jon scrambled off the floor, pushing at Kon as he got up. They spent a few minutes cleaning up, then Jon ran his presents up to his room, setting the painting from Damian on his desk until he could get it hung up. When he came back down, Damian was missing.

"Where'd he go?"

"He stepped outside to take a call," Lois said. "Jon can you come here for a second?"

Jon gave his brothers the "uh oh am I in trouble" look, but followed her into the kitchen. She turned to him, and then spoke softly.

"Did you talk to him?" She whispered.

"No, not yet."

"Really? You could've fooled me, you two are all over each other."

"Mom!"

"Listen, I'm just." She sighed, reaching out and putting a hand on her arm. "You two seem happy together."

Jon smiled slightly. "I am happy."

"Good."

Jon looked up as he heard the front door shut. "I should go keep Kon and Chris from quizzing him about his entire life."

"Probably. And you know they're only doing that to get under your skin."

"Yeah I know."

Jon grinned at her before walking out, finding Damian sitting back on the sofa, looking at his phone. 

"What was that about?"

"Hm? Oh, it was just Colin, he's watching the pets while I'm gone."

Jon hummed, sitting next to him. They ended up watching a few movies, and then around ten, Damian stood. 

"I need to be getting to bed," he announced. "Good night everyone, Jon."

"Mm, night, I'll be up in a bit."

Jon squeezed his hand as he walked past, then watched him walk away and up the stairs, his family calling good night as he left. 

"He goes to bed early."

"Yeah, he likes to keep a good sleep schedule."

"Boooo," Kon called softly. Jon just snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Naw it's actually pretty nice, it makes me go to bed earlier too."

They both gagged, and Jon felt his face heat up a bit. That hadn't been what he had meant to imply, but it was too late now. He shot Lois an embarrassed look and she just laughed at him.

When Jon finally got to bed - which wasn't until nearly midnight - he had to sneak his way into the room, not going in until he had fully gotten ready for bed. He slipped through the door, gently shutting it behind him and then quietly pulling sleep clothes out from his dresser and changing. He quietly snuck over to the bed, and was plugging in his phone when the realization hit him.

Damian was here. In his house. In his bed.

He stopped and looked up, at Damian, just looking at him. He was asleep on his back, one arm on his stomach, the other on top of the sheets, towards Jon. He looked so peaceful. Jon just smiled and set down his phone, carefully sliding under the covers next to him. And then he tried to make himself go to sleep, only it wasn't working too well.

He just laid awake, thinking about Damian, thinking about their relationship, and trying to stay as still as possible.

And then suddenly it was the next morning and he was waking up to light shining through the curtains and Damian on his phone next to him. Jon just smiled and let his eyes close again. This felt right.

"Morning," he spoke after a few minutes of just laying there.

Damian looked over and smiled at him. "Good morning."

Jon rolled onto his back and stretched, then reached for his phone.

"Sleep well?" Damian asked, setting his own device aside.

"Yeah! You?"

"Mm, slept pretty well. Though I think I might have gotten woken up by someone blundering around the room. . ."

"Oops, sorry," Jon grinned sheepishly at him.

"You're fine, I'm teasing."

Jon looked over and they grinned at each other. Silence fell over them as Jon looked through his notifications, clearing each of them, getting caught up on his online life. Then he set his phone down and rolled onto his side to face Damian.

"Hey about the painting. . ."

"Oh?" Damian looked over, eyebrow raised. His face read curiosity, but his eyes betrayed his nervousness.

"And specifically the note."

Damian's eyebrow just arched. Jon pushed up on his arms and moved so he was over Damian.

"I want that."

It took a moment, then a grin stretched across his face. 

"I'm glad."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Damian leaned up and kissed Jon softly, and Jon couldn't be happier to press back, then he pulled back, grinning mischievously.

"Jon, I'm sorry, but we have to break up," Damian said, his tone of voice indicating he was joking.

"Oh?" Jon asked, eyebrow raising even as his stomach fluttered with nervousness.

"Yes. I don't think this fake dating thing will work anymore."

Jon snorted softly. "Alright."

Damian waited a second, that huge grin still on his face.

"Jon?"

"Yes Damian?"

"Now that I'm a free man, will you date me? Properly this time?"

Jon just laughed, falling to the bed beside Damian, who was also now laughing.

"God you're a dork," Jon managed to get out.

"Is that a no?"

"Pftt, shut up!"

Damian sat up to look at him, and Jon just shook his head fondly.

"Yes, I'll date you."

"Amazing. Fantastic. Brilliant."

Jon laughed as Damian leaned down to kiss his forehead. 

"But I want the dog in the divorce."

"Never in a million years."

* * *

Jon was excited. It had been nearly three weeks since he'd seen Damian, and that had been on his birthday. 

Damian had ended up going on a trip with Talia to Europe to attend some conservation summit thing. They had been gone for a week and a half, and as much as Jon enjoyed face timing and getting a whole spam of photos, he missed Damian. They had just started dating for real, and then Damian leaves. They hadn't gotten much time as actual boyfriends.

But now Damian was home, and Jon was going down to spend the week at his apartment. He packed up all his things that he'd need for the week, said goodbye to his parents and drove up to Gotham. At this point he knew all the codes to get up to Damian's apartment by memory, and he even had his own key into the apartment. So he let himself in, dropping his bag by the door and looking around the apartment.

It didn't seem that Damian was there, which made Jon's spirits drop a bit, but the lack of Titus led him to believe that the man had just taken the dog out for a walk. So he ran his bag up to his room, located Pennyworth, and scooped the cat up, going and plopping on the sofa, petting him as he watched a video on his phone, waiting for Damian.

The door started unlocking, and Jon got a wicked idea. He pulled Pennyworth to his chest, and laid flat on the couch, waiting. He heard the door open, Damian talking to Titus, and then the dog came running towards his bed. He had gotten laid down on his bed before he saw Jon, and that only caused him to bark and jump up again.

"Titus, shush," Damian scolded.

Titus came running towards Jon, wagging and whining happily.

"Titus, what is wrong with you?"

Jon stoically held his ground even as Titus licked his face aggressively. Damian's face came into view over the sofa, and immediately it lit up.

"Jonathan!"

"Hi," Jon said with a grin, pushing Titus' face away from him and sitting up.

"When did you get here?!"

Damian hurried around the sofa, sitting on the edge by Jon's hip.

"Just like 5 minutes ago."

"Oh! We just missed each other then."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too."

They grinned at each other for a moment, then Jon reached up with the hem of his shirt and wiped his face clean.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Titus is slobbery."

"Noo don't apologize, I love our slobbery boy."

Jon turned to look at Titus, cooing at him.

"Hmm, our boy?"

"Yep, ours."

Jon looked back at Damian, who was smiling softly at him, they just looked at each other.

"What?" Jon asked.

"Nothing, I just missed you."

Jon grinned and leaned forwards, slipping his arms around Damian and hugging him. They leaned into each other, holding the other person up while taking them in.

Damian was warm from walking outside, but he wasn't hot or sweaty. Jon could feel his muscles under his t-shirt, and he could smell his oat and honey shampoo. Being in Damian's arms was nice, it was safe and welcoming. And he never realized how much he wanted this until now.

"How was your trip?"

"It was good."

Damian pulled away, he slid his hands up from Jon's back to cup his face, thumb rubbing gently along his cheekbone.

"Can I kiss you?"

Jon nodded eagerly and then didn't wait, leaning in and kissing Damian. Damian pressed back eagerly, arms sliding over Jon's shoulders, melting into the kiss until it was soft and sweet. Jon pulled away to grin at Damian.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get over this."

"I certainly hope you never do."

Jon giggled slightly. "Okay, but seriously! I want to know about your trip!"

They settled next to each other on the sofa and Damian spent the next thirty minutes telling him all about his week in Europe, and all the places he had stayed. Jon listened intently. He loved listening to Damian talk, his voice was smooth and his accent never ceases to capture his attention.

"Anyways, enough about me. What did you do while I was gone?"

"Oh, not a lot, I guess? I hung out with friends, played a lot of video games, watched a few movies, did my summer classes."

Damian chuckled, shaking his head. "Busy guy, huh?"

"Just running around crazy," Jon joked back.

Damian laughed and leaned forwards to kiss his forehead.

"Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?"

"Sure!" Jon gasped slightly. "Our first official date!"

"It is, isn't it!"

They did indeed go out that night, but to a small local thai restaurant, instead of anywhere big. It was an amazing date, and Jon couldn't stop grinning the whole time. They spent that evening watching bad reality tv and throwing popcorn at each other and Titus.

The next week together was amazing, if a little awkward. They were going from being fairly good friends to now being official boyfriends. There were new boundaries to make and lines to make, and figuring out where those boundaries were was a bit of a messy process. But Jon often caught Damian staring at him with this love struck expression, and frankly it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen.

"When did you realize?" Jon asked randomly, Wednesday evening.

Damian was in the middle of cooking, something he said Talia used to make when he was little.

"Realize what?" Damian asked, glancing back from where he was checking the rice.

"That you . . . Ya know."

"Oh, when did I realize I had feelings for you?"

Jon nodded. Damian shrugged and moved back to the stove, returning to sauteing kale. 

"I think it was more of a gradual thing for me. I started getting more and more excited every time I got to see you, as well as trying to come up with excuses to see you more often," Damian explained, speaking softly. "And then one day I realized, and it all made sense."

Jon hummed, watching him move around, getting bowls out.

"What about you?"

"Oh, I just realized randomly one day, and it was suddenly really obvious, my feelings for you, I mean."

Damian shot him a smile. Jon stood and walked over, slipping his arms around Damian's waist while he plated their food. Damian immediately leaned back into him, but didn't stop.

"God that smells good, what is it?"

"Mujadara. I hope you like it, it's been a comfort food of mine for ages."

"I'm sure I'll love it."

Jon kissed Damian's cheek and then took the bowls, walking away to the table.

"I have that shoot tomorrow, do you want to come with?"

"Oh, sure! Am I allowed to?"

"If I want you there then you can be anywhere you want."

Jon laughed and grinned at him.

After dinner, they took Titus for a walk, walking around the block, holding hands. Upon returning home, Titus ran into the apartment, ran straight to his bed in the corner of the living room, and immediately curled up to pass out. Damian chuckled at him.

“I love dogs,” Jon remarked, kicking his shoes off by the door.

“They do make good companions.”

“Yeah. You wanna go change and meet back here for a movie, or did you have other plans?"

Damian shook his head. “A movie sounds amazing.”

Jon grinned and turned, jogging up the stairs and quickly changing, old sweats and a comfy t-shirt, then he headed back down, going to the kitchen to find movie snacks. He managed to produce a trail mix and had just dumped a bunch of it into a bowl when Damian came back down. He was wearing a pair of sleep pants and a hoodie, and went to grab the tv remote. 

“What are you fancying?”

They bickered over movies for nearly twenty minutes before settling on a movie, Jon's pick. He knew romance movies weren't necessarily Damian's thing, but look,  _ Crazy Rich Asians  _ is a good movie.

It took them about twenty minutes before Jon was curled up against Damian's side, their bowl of snacks sat in his lap, munching on it occasionally. Cuddling had been slowly becoming a thing for them, and Jon was living for it.

"Jon," Damian murmured randomly, voice loud in Jon's ear, despite the low tone he'd spoken in.

Jon looked up and found Damian was already looking down at him.

"What?" He asked softly, meeting his eyes.

Damian didn't respond, just gently pressed their lips together, setting their snacks down on the coffee table, pushing into Jon a little more as he shifted positions. Jon found himself eagerly kissing Damian back, easily moving with him until he was laying flat on the sofa, Damian over him, locked in a deep kiss.

"You know, I seem to remember a no kissing rule," Damian said, pulling away just slightly, grinning at Jon.

Jon huffed a little laugh, reaching up to push at Damian's face slightly, then immediately give up and gently caressed his cheek.

"I changed my mind."

He leaned up and softly pecked Damian's lips.

Damian grinned at him. "I'm glad."

Neither of them seem inclined to move, but they didn't start kissing either.

After a moment, Damian sat back up, and Jon readjusted to be laying against his chest, mostly between his legs, as they watched the rest of the movie. 

“We should go to bed,” Jon suggested after the movie ended, sitting up and looking over at Damian.

He was already asleep.

Jon snorted softly, gently pushing on Damian’s knee.

“Damian, Damian, come on, you gotta go to bed.”

“Huh?”

Jon laughed when Damian pulled an eye open, then groaned and stretched, reaching out and grabbing Jon, tugging on him.

“ ‘Mere.”

“Damian,” Jon laughed softly, but let himself be pulled against his chest.

“Lets just sleep here,” Damian mumbled, burying his nose into Jon’s hair.

“Damian-”

He hummed softly, a gentle hum that indicated a question.

“Come on, we gotta sleep in our beds.”

Damian was silent for a moment, rubbing a hand up and down Jon’s arm.

“Come sleep with me.”

Jon froze. It took Damian a moment before he rushed to explain.

“Wait- no- I meant. . .” Damian sighed, stopping. “Never mind.”

They were silent for a bit.

“Do- if you just wanted me to come to sleep. . . then I’ll come.” 

Damian perked up immediately, like an excited little puppy. “Really?”

“Yeah, let me go get ready for bed.”

They got up, and Jon headed upstairs, while Damian walked around, putting things up and turning off lights. Jon had butterflies in his stomach. Not only would he be going into Damian’s bedroom for literally the first time since they’d started “dating”, but he’d also be spending the night with him. Which Damian had specifically requested.

He was excited, and nervous.

Instead of grabbing his phone charger, he just plugged his phone in and left it in his room. He quickly brushed his teeth and took out his contacts. Once he was done washing his face and getting ready for bed, he made his way over to Damian's room, pushing the ajar door open all the way, clutching his pillow to his chest.

A yellow lamp light was filling the room, and Jon took a moment to look around. The walls were a soft green, the furniture either white or a warm brown stain wood. There were a couple plants scattered around, and it gave a neat, minimalist vibe. There was a dog bed in the corner by the window, which Titus had already curled up on, and Pennyworth had made his spot on the window bench.

“Hey,” Jon said softly to Damian, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at his phone.

“Ah, ready?” Damian asked, reaching up to rub his face, and setting his phone down on a bedside table.

“Yeah.”

Jon walked over to the opposite side of the bed, pushing back the sheets and the duvet, then setting his pillow down. He hesitated a moment. Usually he slept without pants, but he didn’t really think this was a good time for that. So he just crawled into Damian's bed and pulled the sheets up to his chest.

His bed was really comfortable, and the sheets were really soft.

Damian laid down next to him, leaving the light on, turning to face him. They just laid there and looked at each other, and Jon couldn’t ignore how his heart was pounding.

“Good night, Jon.”

“Night, Dami.”

Damian was turning to turn off the light, and Jon reached out, grabbing his arm.

“Do you want-” he hesitated, feeling nervousness bubble up in his throat. “Is it okay if I. . . “

Damian smiled. “That is why I asked you to come.”

Jon grinned slightly, and once Damian had flicked off the lamp and settled back down, Jon adjusted, moving so his back was to Damian. Damian just pressed up against him, an arm around Jon’s stomach, holding him close as they shifted to get comfortable, spooned together.

As compared to the last time they'd shared a bed, Jon drifted off easily, safe and happy in Damian's arms. 

The next morning when he woke up, he was clearly alone in bed. Silence hung in the air around him, it felt like even the building itself was keeping itself quiet so he could sleep. He laid in bed and stared at the closed curtains for a bit, just thinking.

His mind was so preoccupied with thinking about Damian, and about their relationship, that he didn’t notice the door opening. He did however, hear it click shut. He looked over to find Damian shutting the door, looking like he had just come back from walking Titus.

“Oh, good morning,” he said with a soft smile, walking over.

“Hi,” Jon mumbled, stretching and turning to face him fully.

“Did you just wake up?”

“A few minutes ago.”

Damian grinned and pulled back the covers, getting back into bed, laying on his side to face Jon.

“How did you sleep?”

“I slept good. Your bed is comfy."

"That it is." 

Damian reached out to brush Jon’s hair, then let his hand slip down to gently caress his cheek, smiling fondly.

"What about you?"

"Well I woke up with an arm that was dead asleep, but I think I slept well."

"Oh, oops," Jon said with a sheepish chuckle.

Damian just laughed. “I’ve got coffee going, what would you like for breakfast?”

“I dunno.”

Damian snorted softly, leaning over and kissing Jon’s cheek.

“I’ll see if I can find a recipe for that. Stay in bed as long as you’d like.”

Damian stood back up and walked out of the room, and Jon just laid there staring at the ceiling for a few moments. Then he sat up and looked around the room. Usually he'd stay in bed for a while, just looking at his phone, but his phone was in the other room. So he got up and walked across the balcony hallway to get to his room and get his phone.

"Hey, Jon!"

Jon walked back to the doorway, looking out over the rail towards Damian.

"What?"

"Don't forget you were going to come with me to that shoot!"

"Oh, shit, right! How long till breakfast?"

"Long enough to take a shower if that's what you want."

Jon gave him a thumbs up before quickly getting his things and hopping in the shower, shamelessly stealing Damian's products. Boyfriend privileges, right?

When he got downstairs, hair wet and curly once more, Damian had made them fancy oatmeal. They ate at the breakfast bar, Jon just quietly answering texts while he ate, and Damian reading a book. A nice peaceful morning. Jon was learning to love them.

When they got to the studio that morning, Jon had this sudden realization that he'd never been in a professional photo studio like this before. He'd been in some smaller ones, but nothing this big. There were huge background rolls all along the walls of the main studio room, big box lights and fans set around, and what Jon could only imagine was thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment. And despite all the time he had spent with Damian around the social elite, he felt so out of place.

"Ah! There he is, Damian darling, how are you!?"

Jon looked up as a person with a very distinct German accent called their attention over.

"Luka." Damian smiled and walked over to a man who was sat in front of a laptop, a camera set on the table next to him.

Luka stood and quickly hugged Damian. 

"I'm doing well. Luka, this is my boyfriend, Jonathan Kent."

Luka looked over. He had vibrant pink hair and warm brown eyes. He immediately grinned, flashing white teeth as he held out his hand.

"Jon, so good to meet you! I've heard a lot about you! I'm Luka, I work with the Wayne family a lot."

Jon shook his hand with a smile.

"It's good to meet you too!"

"Okay, Damian, I need you to go get into makeup and outfit, I've got a few picked out for today."

"Alright. Come along, beloved."

Damian snagged Jon's hand and dragged him away through another door, which led into what was clearly a dressing room of sorts, with a couple make up stations and floor to ceiling mirrors on either end of the room.

Damian was eagerly greeted by a few people who had him sit down and started fussing over him, starting to get him into makeup. Jon stood to the side and watched, listening to the four of them chatter together. It only took about five minutes for one of them to focus on him.

"Oh! And who's this handsome young man?" An older woman asked, walking over to him and grabbing his hands.

"That is my boyfriend, Jonathan," Damian said, smiling at Jon in the reflection of the mirror.

"Oh come here, honey. If I know Luka, he'll want photos."

So Jon got plopped down in a makeup chair and found himself being made to look nice. Damian just shot him a mischievous grin, and Jon suddenly had the feeling he had planned this.

The rest of the day was compromised of Jon watching Damian get photos taken, change outfits, take some more photos, then, go change again. He really was quite natural in front of the camera, but then again, Jon supposed he's been doing this for years.

And sure enough, there was one point that Lukas grabbed Jon, and pulled him into the dressing room. He was given a new shirt and a jacket to wear over it, as well as a different pair of sneakers, and then he was dragged out and shoved in front of the camera with Damian.

"Well don't you look handsome," Damian said with a grin, pulling him in for a quick kiss. "Ever modeled before?"

"Uh, does Kathy count?"

Damian laughed. "Close enough. Just follow my lead."

The photo shoot with Damian was really quite fun, and once he got into it, it wasn't that hard. Luka was really good at instructing them in poses, and getting Jon to laugh when necessary, or sober up when he needed to look serious.

Once they had changed back into street clothes, Luka gave them a sneak peak of some of the photos, and then sent them off into the world.

"We have time for a late lunch, if you want?" Damian asked, looking at his phone for the time as they walked to his car.

"Anywhere you wanna go, I'll gladly come."

"Oh? Even if I want to go clothes shopping?"

"Okay, no. Not there. But." Jon laughed and bumped into Damian. "I'm happy to do lunch."

Damian smiled up at him. "You're a good guy, Jon."

"Says you."

"Naw, you're better than me. I have to try to be good, you just are."

Jon felt his cheeks heat up and he looked away.

"Oh stop it," he mumbled.

The place they went for lunch was on the fancier side. They were part way through their meal when Jon thought of something.

"Damian."

"Hmm?" He looked up, forkful of salad halfway to his mouth.

"I'm your actual boyfriend now."

Damian's eyebrows rose a bit. "Yes, I know."

"You can't pay me anymore. I'm not with you for money anymore."

"What?"

"I'm not going . . . This isn't a job for me now, so you can't pay me anymore."

Damian scowled at him. "But-"

"Nope. I don't want your money."

Damian sighed, rubbing his face lightly. He was silent for a moment then grinned.

"So, I'm not allowed to give you money directly, but as your boyfriend I'm allowed to buy things for you, no?"

Jon was sensing a trap here. 

"I guess."

"Good, good."

"Damian, what are you planning?"

Damian just grinned at him. "Nothing, nothing."

"Yes you are! What are you planning!?"

"Oh, just consider your biggest expense in life right now."

It did genuinely take Jon a second. Then his eyes went wide.

"You're not paying for college!"

"I can and will!"

"No!"

Damian was grinning, clearly he had already made up his mind.

"You said no allowance, so instead, if I pay for your college, then whatever money you have saved you can just use for everyday things."

"I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise, am I?"

"Nope, not at all."

Jon sighed, shaking his head. "We'll talk about this later."

"Sure," Damian said, grin not slipping.

After lunch, they went to the park to walk around, holding hands, stopping every once and awhile to talk about something. Then Jon randomly tugged Damian off the path, over towards a swing set. He jumped on one and started swinging, grinning at Damian like a kid. Damian sat beside him and started swinging lightly, smiling at him. 

"Hey, Jon?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad we met."

"Me too!"

Jon slowed his swinging, and then twisted, putting his legs around Damian's, pulling himself close enough that he could grab the chains of Damian's swing and hold himself there. He grinned at Damian, leaning in and kissing him.

"Hey, Damian. I have a secret."

"Yeah?"

"I really really like you."

Damian chuckled. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. And I . . .  _ Like  _ like you."

"Hey, Jon?"

"Yeah?"

"I  _ like  _ like you too."

Jon laughed and kissed him again. 

Yeah, this was good. Real dating Damian was so much better then fake dating.

"Dork," Jon murmured fondly.

"I get it from hanging out with you."

"Oh, is that so?"

Damian hummed, kissing his nose. 

"Yep. You and your goofy family."

"Having met your family, I would tend to argue otherwise."

Damian just chuckled and shoved Jon away so he went swinging back, then twisting crookedly. Jon laughed again and twisted him to bump into him a few times. He was happy, and he hoped to stay this happy for a long time. And sitting here, swinging with Damian, that seemed like a dream that would come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it is finished! It's a long bitch, but it's good. I hope you guys liked it, please leave me some comments to bless me with serotonin!
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments feed my gremlin soul! Please be generous!
> 
> Thank you so much to Postwick for betaing for me as always! They're an amazing artist, check them out on Tumblr and Instagram @legitpumpkin !!!!
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr @queerbutstillhere for shit posting, and @queerbutstillhere-writes for ao3 updating information!


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